The Hero Effect
by Darth Terminus
Summary: On a mission from Paradox, Ben Tennyson has crossed over into another universe. Now, he must work alongside Commander Shepard in order to save the galaxy from extinction, first from the Collectors, then the Reapers. Ben/Miranda, MShep/Liara, Garrus/Tali. Based on Judge Royce's story.
1. The Paradox Effect

**Well, this wasn't what I had planned for my first fic on the site, but dammit, Judge Royce isn't updating and I don't feel like waiting. So, here it is, my own Ben 10/Mass Effect crossover extravaganza.**

**Okay, quick heads-up: Ben has his Ultimate Alien look with the new white Omnitrix. However, the events of Omniverse have not occurred. Therefore, Rook will not be in this story.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Special thanks to Judge Royce, The Incredible Muffin, Bigby the Big Bad Wolf, Codecrash, and Ultimate10 for inspiring this story. They are, without a doubt, my favorite Ben 10 crossover writers on this site.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Paradox Effect**

It was ironic, really.

When he was fifteen, Ben Tennyson craved an ordinary life, without aliens and criminals and the Omnitrix. He could go to high school, find a girlfriend, play soccer, enjoy smoothies, and hang out with his favorite cousin without the stress that came with the superhero lifestyle.

Now, Ben is eighteen, and he is starting to wonder just what the hell he was thinking. Ever since he and Vilgax had their final showdown two years ago, everything had become too easy. Azmuth had put together a team of the brightest Galvans in the galaxy (which was saying a lot) for the sole purpose of creating better technology for the Plumbers to use, which gave them a huge advantage when it came to handling lawbreakers.

On the plus side, this meant that super criminals such as Animo and Rojo were able to be detained much more effectively than ever before.

On the down side, it meant that the Plumbers were so good at their job that Ben was practically obsolete. Other than the occasional bank robber or hostage-taker, the teen hero had nothing to do.

After graduating high school, he managed to move into his own apartment, making money by selling off shards of crystal and manipulating the stock market (thanks to Diamondhead and Grey Matter, of course). Therefore, he did not require a job.

However, Ben was still unsure about college. On the one hand, he did see the need to further his education, along with the fact that it would make his mom happy. On the other, he was a superhero who could make upwards of $100,000 in less than an hour, so college seemed kind of useless at this point.

Nevertheless, he promised his parents that he would give it some thought over the summer.

* * *

At the moment, however, college was the farthest thing from his mind; Ben was currently sitting at Mr. Smoothy's and enjoying his favorite beverage. Unfortunately, he was sitting by himself, as Gwen had long since gone off to an Ivy League college, with Kevin working at a mechanic's near said college in order to stay near Ben's cousin. Other than them, he didn't have many friends, other than perhaps the Plumbers' Helpers.

He also didn't have a girlfriend, he and Julie having broken up long ago. Since then, Ben had been unable to find a girl to fill the void, as most of the ladies interested in him only cared that he was famous, and didn't bother to get to know him as a person first. It made him wish for his secret identity back.

Sighing, Ben finished off his smoothie and tossed it into a trashcan sitting a few feet away.

"Hm. What should I do now?" he asked himself, crossing his arms over his chest. Being famous across the universe made it impossible for the wielder of the Omnitrix to go anywhere without legions of fans swarming him. The only reason he was alone right now was because everyone in Bellwood was used to his presence.

"I bet Rex never gets this bored," the teen groaned, referencing the friend he had made from an alternate dimension where human beings were infected by machines called nanites. That had been a weird adventure.

"And there's my cue!" came a cheerful voice with a British accent. Ben quickly turned around, only to see the familiar labcoat-wearing form of Professor Paradox standing a few feet away.

"Hey, Professor," the eighteen-year-old smiled as he slipped his hands into his pockets. "What universe-saving adventure am I going on this time?"

Indeed, whenever Professor Paradox showed up out of the blue like this, it usually meant that the universe, or the time stream, was in danger. Such a shame, really. The time-walker was a pleasant person to be around, but his appearance almost never boded well

"An excellent question!" the time-traveler exclaimed before holding out a brown paper bag. "Gumball?"

Ben politely declined.

Shrugging, Paradox slipped the bag back into his coat. And with that, his face became grim and stone-like. "Benjamin, I come with grave news."

"I figured."

"Recently, I've been using my abilities to cross the barrier between dimensions, exploring many universes and witnessing quite a few incredible events." The Professor then gave a playful smirk. "In fact, I've come across many that involve you."

Ben cocked his head in confusion. "Really?"

"Oh, yes. Quite a few interesting things have happened to you in these alternate realms. In one, you marry an incredibly powerful woman and have a son with a myriad of special abilities. In another, you have joined a guild of magic users, as well as being the first person to create a smoothie."

The teen grinned, feeling a sense of pride, though his smile disappeared when Paradox resumed his 'impending doom' face.

"However, that is not why I'm here now. You see, Ben, I have come across a particularly fascinating universe, where the Milky Way galaxy possesses only a handful of sentient species that run the galaxy, including humans."

The wielder of the Omnitrix narrowed his eyes in thought. The galaxy was such a vast place; how could only a few different species control it? There should be thousands, if not millions of different races coexisting with one another.

Paradox continued. "Upon further investigation, I discovered that this alternate galaxy was built on a cycle of extinction."

"Wait, what?" Ben asked, his blood running cold at the word 'extinction'.

"You see, every fifty thousand years, different races evolve to the point where they can take to the stars and colonize other planets, like in most science fiction. But at some point, large mechanical beings known as Reapers appear and cleanse the galaxy of all sentient life, erasing their history, culture, technology, everything. Then they come back fifty millennia later and do it all over again."

Ben felt a powerful urge to vomit, along with an overwhelming desire to take these 'Reapers' down.

"Now, the cycle is about to begin again, and the Reapers are currently scheming from outside the Milky Way," Paradox explained. "It is my hope that you can end this cycle once and for all."

The teen didn't hesitate. "When do I start?"

The Professor smiled. "Good show, Ben. Now, you're a quick study, so you'll be able to figure out more about this universe once you're there and have access to their records. But I must explain a few things before I send you on your way."

"Like what?"

"Well, first off, your mission: the Reapers are using beings known as Collectors to abduct human colonies. They look like humanoid insects, but don't let that fool you. They are nothing more than shells, made up of technology and dead flesh."

"So what, they're robot zombie bug people?" Ben asked.

"In layman's terms, yes. The reason I'm telling you this, Ben, is because you must not hesitate in putting them down for good."

The teen's green eyes widened at Paradox's supposed ruthlessness.

Sensing the eighteen-year-old boy's distress, the time-walker gave a sad smile. "Trust me, you will be doing them a kindness. They are slaves to the Reapers, nothing more than cannon fodder." After a brief silence, Paradox continued the briefing. "Now, this is a large task I'm assigning you, so don't expect to go it alone. A human by the name of Commander Shepard has managed to hold the Reapers at bay two years ago, and is now putting a team together to take the fight to the Collectors and stop the abductions."

Ben nodded in understanding.

"You have to realize, Ben, that the people on this team are not as virtuous as you. Every single one of them has killed before, and will kill again. Some of them are ruthless, others are noble, but in the end, none of them will hesitate to take a life if they have to."

"Why are you telling me this?" the boy questioned suspiciously. He was not a killer, and he never would be.

"I'm not asking you to shed blood, Ben. Just for you to keep an open mind and not judge these people too harshly. Many difficult choices lie ahead of you, some of which may indirectly cause multiple deaths. But you must not falter in your conviction," Paradox said, looking troubled. He reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I have seen the atrocities the Reapers commit. They slaughter everyone equally, man, woman, and child. If they don't kill you, they shatter your mind and turn you into a slave that can no longer think for yourself. They convert living beings into bio-mechanical monsters that remorselessly murder the people they used to love, and in the end, when the last hint of resistance is crushed..."

Ben felt his gut twist as he saw tears form in Paradox's eyes, which the Professor quickly wiped away. "I know you, Ben. You will do everything you can to fight this threat, and even make a few new friends along the way."

The eighteen-year-old savior of the universe stood tall. "I'm guessing you already told Grandpa about this?" he asked, knowing that his grandfather would tell Gwen, Kevin, and his folks about the mission at hand.

"Correct."

The teen cracked his knuckles. "Well then, what are we waiting for?"

Paradox smiled with a hint of pride. "I'm sending you there now, then. You will arrive on a planet known as Horizon, a human colony that is currently being attacked by the Collectors. While I urge you to save as many people as you can, you must meet up with Commander Shepard and convince him to allow you on his team."

The British man then pulled out his pocket watch. "Oh, and do be patient with Miss Lawson, will you? I daresay it will be worth it in the future," he smirked.

Ben was about to ask who he was talking about before being engulfed in a bright flash of light.

* * *

A few blinks and a shaking of his head later, Ben saw that he was standing somewhere _very_ different than the parking lot of Mr. Smoothy's. He was currently in some kind of clearing, surrounded by strange white buildings. Littered around the clearing were what looked like crates, and a circular platform with a large antenna on it. All around the area, strange bugs were buzzing through the air, though they paid him no mind. Turning around, he felt his jaw drop when he saw a massive ship that might even give Way Big a run for his money.

A sound from his left caused Ben to look over and see a group of strange creatures with brown chitin-like skin, four pale-yellow eyes, and, to the boys chagrin, organic-looking guns that were currently being pointed at him.

"Oh, man!" the teen grumbled as he dived behind a nearby crate, narrowly avoiding a yellow blast of energy that had been aiming for his head.

Ben quickly activated the Omnitrix, looking for an alien that would be able to take down these enemies (which he presumed were the Collectors, as they looked like humanoid insects) while also providing decent defensive capabilities against their energy weapons.

"Gotcha," he smirked as he slammed down on the dial.

A bright flash of green light later, and the eighteen-year-old human was replaced by a seven-foot-tall being with a dark indigo body that appeared to be made of rock, crystal-like arms that looked like they could do some damage, along with two matching spikes jutting from its back.

"_DIAMONDHEAD!_" the alien bellowed as he stood up, sharpened his arms into blades, and charged his bug-like foes, who continued to fire their beam weapons. The blasts stung slightly, but did no damage to the transformed teenager.

Feeling slightly sick at what he was about to do, but trusting Paradox's judgment, Diamondhead lunged forward and shot his right arm forward, impaling the Collector at the front of the group through the stomach.

The Petrosapien winced, though his disgust was offset by the fact that his foe simply looked right at him and began lifting its rifle up in order to shoot him in the head, completely emotionless in its movements.

_Looks like the Professor was right_, Ben thought as he withdrew his arm and took a swipe with it, taking the alien's head clean off. Before the body collapsed to the ground, Diamondhead managed to see a glint of some kind of metal in the neck of the now-dead Collector.

Feeling a little relieved that he wasn't necessarily killing real beings, the teen hero quickly went to work, slicing open two more of the bug aliens with one swing while punching a hole through the chest of another.

After a handful of seconds, all but one of the Collectors were dead, and Diamondhead gave the lone survivor a glare.

"I'm guessing you don't talk, do you?"

Instead of a response, the human-abducting alien dropped its gun and began convulsing, with cracks of glowing energy appearing in its armor. The Collector then floated into the air and unleashed a surge of power that knocked Ben back a step.

"I'll take that as a 'no'," Diamondhead muttered as he assumed a defensive stance.

The Collector landed on its feet, glowing with a fiery aura, its eyes glowing like miniature suns.

"**WE ARE HARBINGER.**"

"Good for you," the transformed teen retorted as he fired three diamond shards at the upgraded Collector, two striking its chest and one in the shoulder. The glowing alien didn't even flinch.

In retaliation, the Collector extended its arm and fired a sphere of glowing energy at Diamondhead, who lifted his arms into the air, using his powers to summon a large crystal prism to rise from the ground and block the attack. The sphere struck the prism and exploded violently, shattering the diamond wall.

Ben blinked in surprise. "Well, that's not good."

"**YOUR SPECIES IS UNKNOWN. YOU WILL BE STUDIED.**"

Instead of responding, Diamondhead transformed both of his arms into blades once more and charged forward, intending to bifurcate his opponent. Just as he was in striking distance, however, the Collector released a pulse of energy, shattering the diamonds on his back and sending him flying backwards.

Ben landed with a grunt, his body aching from the blast. It felt like he had just been hit by Vilgax.

"Okay, close range is a no-no," he noted to himself as he reached up and tapped the Omnitrix symbol.

"_FEEDBACK!_" cried the new alien that emerged from the green light, which had a singular green eye, a white stripe running down its body, two antenna, and a tail.

"**SHAPESHIFTING CAPABILITIES. YOU ARE AN UNKNOWN. YOU WILL BE ELIMINATED.**"

"Yeah, haven't heard that one before," Feedback grinned as he picked up a nearby crate and chucked it at the Collector, who swatted it aside effortlessly. Once more, it launched an energy attack, which Ben had expected when he picked his Conductoid form.

Outstretching his hands, Feedback allowed the attack to make contact with his fingers. Almost instantly, the orb shrank in size and disappeared, having been absorbed by the transformed teenager.

"Sorry, that was rude to steal your energy without permission," Feedback joked as he lowered his arms. "Here, you can have it back!"

With that, he pointed his antennae at the Collector and unleashed a massive blast of blue power, which engulfed the bug alien in its bright light.

When the attack was finished, there was nothing left but a smoking crater in the ground where the upgraded Collector once stood.

"Guess he could give it, but he couldn't take it," Ben quipped as he looked around. "Now, where exactly do I-"

Feedback's talking to himself was interrupted when he was suddenly hit from behind by a strong force, sending him flying forward and landing on his face.

"Is this gonna be a thing now?" he muttered to himself in annoyance, his voice muffled by the dirt his face was planted in. With a groan, he used his hands to push himself back onto his feet. Turning around, he saw quite a strange sight in front of him.

Seven people, both human and alien, stood a few meters away, with their weapons drawn and pointed straight at him.

Up front was a tough-looking man wearing grey armor that had a red stripe running down his right arm. Ben assumed that he was the leader, given the fact that he was at the front of the group.

Next to him was a bird-looking alien wearing blue armor and some kind of visor over its left eye, while the right side of its face looked heavily scarred.

On the other side of the leader was a muscular dark-skinned man wearing a black outfit, whose eyes were wandering over the area in an attempt to locate any more hostiles.

At the back of the group was a large dinosaur-like alien wearing silver armor with some kind of ridge on its head. It glared at Feedback with bloodlust in its light blue eyes.

Another alien, this one looking somewhat lizard-like and wearing what appeared to be a strange lab coat was fiddling around with a holographic device on his left arm.

It took all of Ben's willpower not to stare at probably the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, with magnificent curves enclosed in a skintight catsuit that left little to the imagination.

Unfortunately, his attention was focused on what appeared to be a bald woman wearing baggy pants and a belt that barely covered her chest, who was glowing with blue energy not dissimilar to what the Collector was doing earlier. Her lips were pulled back in a snarl, as if she were waiting to tear Feedback apart. Ben was willing to bet that she was the one who hit him from behind.

"What the hell is that thing, Commander?" the dark-skinned man asked. Wait, 'Commander'? As in Shepard?

"I don't know," the leader admitted, staring at Feedback with a critical eye. "But the seeker swarms haven't paralyzed it, so I'm guessing it works for the Collectors."

Uh-oh.

"Good, then I can tear that fucker's tail off and choke him with it," the bald woman snarled as her blue energy glowed brighter.

"Perhaps take in alive?" the lizard alien asked. "Could dissect, run tests, learn more about Collector technology."

"We could send samples back to the Illusive Man," the beautiful raven-haired woman suggested.

The leader frowned at that sentence, as if he found this 'Illusive Man' repulsive. "No time. If we want to save the colony, we gotta take this thing down hard and fast."

As Ben was getting ready to protest, he felt something sharp against his throat. Blinking in surprise, his eye widened when a figure seemed to shimmer into existence in front of him. It was a woman, wearing a black outfit and hood that concealed everything except her twinkling eyes and mischievous grin. She seemed unfazed as she held a knife to his throat.

"Hi there," she said in a playful voice. "Wanna give up now?"

Feedback let out a sigh. "Aw, man."

* * *

**I know this chapter is kinda short, but I wanted to save the fun stuff for next chapter, where Ben may or may not have to fight Shepard's crew (spoilers, after all). Then they'll have to team up against the Collectors and that damn Praetorian.**

**Okay, a few notes before this story goes on: First, yes, I chose a Male Shepard. Why? Because if I did a FemShep, I'd have no choice but to have Ben romance her. Yes, I love Jennifer Hale that much.**

**Second, Shepard is a multi-class. Why? Because I said so. He won't be OP, but he'll be deadly as hell.**

**Also, here's the pairings for the fic. Don't like, that's your problem.**

**Ben/Miranda  
Shepard/Liara  
Joker/EDI  
James/Jack  
Garrus/Tali**

**Why am I telling you this? So there's no confusion or doubt. I'm locked in my current course. And if you're wondering where Zaeed is, don't worry. I have a plan for him.**

**Fifty internet points to whoever can spot the references to two of my favorite fanfics.**

**So yeah, reviews will be put in syringes and injected into my arm. (This is a joke, DON'T DO DRUGS, KIDS!)**

**Flames will be used to burn copies of "50 Shades of Grey".**

**Big thanks to The Incredible Muffin for helping me out and giving a few pointers. Seriously, read his stuff, he hasn't had a single bad story yet!**


	2. The Teamwork Effect

**I AM ALIVE!**

**Yeah, I kinda have an excuse, but it's personal. Let's just say it involves broken hearts, a few missing teeth, bruised knuckles, and alcohol...**

**Two things before I begin chapter 2.**

**1: Someone needs to write a Guardians of the Galaxy/Ben 10 crossover. Seriously, MAKE THIS HAPPEN.**

**2: Would anyone be willing to draw up some fanart? Besides a cover for the fic, I'm wondering if someone can do Ben and Miranda together, or Way Big fighting a Reaper? Unfortunately, none of my friends can draw for crap.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Teamwork Effect**

Well, this could have gone better.

With seven heavily armed individuals pointing guns at him, and an eighth holding a knife to his throat, Feedback knew he was in trouble. Any other time, and he would have taken them all out easily. However, they were supposed to be his allies, and what was occurring was nothing but a simple misunderstanding.

One that might end in violence if he didn't tread carefully.

"What we have here is a bit of a mix-up," the transformed teen known as Ben Tennyson began, raising his hands slowly in a gesture of surrender. They were supposed to be good guys, so they wouldn't shoot someone who was standing down, right?

The leader cocked his head. "You can talk?"

"Sure. I can also sing, if you want," Feedback retorted. _So much for treading carefully_, he chided himself, slightly embarrassed at his smart-alecky response. Honestly, he was eighteen. Hadn't he grown out of that phase?

"Huh. Don't remember servants of the Reapers having a sense of humor," the bird alien noted, sounding bemused. "Or the ability to speak, for that matter."

Yes, an opening!

"Look, I've got my hands in the air," Ben began. "I don't want to fight you, I want to fight the Collectors. It's just that simple."

The beautiful woman with the dark hair stepped forward. "We can't trust it, Commander. It's an unknown species that's immune to the seeker swarms. The fact that it possesses intelligence makes it even more dangerous."

"Hm. Creature is emitting low levels of strange energy," the lizard alien said rapidly, running his glowing gauntlet device over Feedback and reading what it found. "Could be natural bio-electronic aura that repels swarms. Not sure, need more data."

The Conductoid was about to say something until a roar was suddenly let out from behind the group. "ENOUGH TALK!" the dinosaur-like alien thundered as it charged forward, throwing his (Ben assumed it was male, based on the voice) shotgun to the side and tackling Feedback.

"Grunt, stand down!" the leader barked, but it was too late.

As soon as his back hit the ground, Ben began running on instinct and touched his fingers to the dinosaur's stomach. A blast of energy slammed into the alien's belly and sent it flying back.

And, unfortunately for the eighteen-year-old hero, that was all the Commander needed to see. "Take him down!"

What happened next was rather chaotic.

Feedback jumped up and slammed his hand on the Omnitrix, encasing himself in a bright green flash of light.

"_XLR8!_"

The dark-skinned man managed to get out a "What the he-" before a black and blue blur slammed into him, knocking him onto his back and expelling the air from his lungs.

Five remaining members of the team began opening fire on the blur, though they had no chance of hitting it. The sixth standing team member, the lizard alien, was typing furiously on his glowing holographic device, rambling aloud.

"Fascinating! Shapeshifting creature, displays energy attacks and speed beyond any known organism! Collector creation, grown to be Reaper-controlled assassin? No, no, creature possesses intelligence, capacity for language, sarcasm, not required for living weapon. Need more data!"

The leader suddenly blinked in surprise as his weapon was yanked from his arms in a millisecond. Looking around, he saw his comrades become similarly disarmed within an instant of each other. And judging by the fact that he felt lighter, the other guns he had holstered on his back were gone as well. The lizard alien didn't even flinch when his weapons were taken, instead still captivated by his device.

Eventually, the blur stopped moving, revealing a velociraptor-like alien with wheels for feet, a black and blue striped tail, and some strange form of armor covering its chest and head. Some kind of visor hid its face from view.

All heads turned to stare at the new being, eyes wide in shock and awe.

"There, problem solved," the dinosaur said in a raspy voice. "Now, how's about we talk this over like civilized people?"

The leader narrowed his eyes at the strange creature. "What the hell are you?"

The visor retracted, revealing green eyes and a black-lined mouth, which was smirking. "I'm the guy who just disarmed your team in about six seconds."

A pause. "Alright, you have my attention."

XLR8 sighed in relief. "Good. I was afraid that-"

"_RAAGGHH_!"

The transformed teenager was forced to cut his sentence short and dodge the alien known as 'Grunt', who had apparently recovered from the blast earlier.

"Fight me like a warrior, coward!" Grunt roared.

"Trust me, you wouldn't last long against my heavy hitters," the Kineceleran quipped as he continuously dodged the large alien's slow, powerful punches. He was preparing to go on the offensive when another voice rang out.

"Outta the way, lizard!"

The beast known as Grunt grinned maliciously as he dodged to the side, leaving XLR8 without any time to react when a wave of blue energy slammed into him, causing him to fly into the air and land on his belly, knocking the wind out of him.

"Yep, looks like this is gonna be a thing," he grumbled, remembering a similar experience when he was Feedback a few minutes ago.

Footsteps approached him, and the savior of the universe looked up to see the bald tattooed woman, bearing an evil grin and glowing with the same energy she had used to blast him with.

"Let's see how fast you move when I break your legs," she snarled, clenching her hands into fists.

"You wouldn't happen to be related to a guy named Vilgax, would you?" Ben retorted, noticing the same manic gleam in her eyes that the warlord always seemed to possess.

Instead of an answer, the bald woman let out a battle cry and cocked her fist back, preparing to unleash another energy blast.

Knowing that he would beat himself up over harming a woman (even a bald, insane one), XLR8 thought up of the next best thing: thinking quickly, he darted forward, wrapped his arms around the woman's waist, and took off as fast as he could, running laps around the small area in an attempt to take out his opponent without ever throwing a punch.

While the bald girl was rather light (almost malnourished, really), the transformed teenager winced as she released an onslaught of colorful and creative insults that Ben, in his many travels, had never heard before.

What did she mean by 'fist-ramming elcor prostitute'?

After a few seconds, however, the vulgar language was replaced by groans, which XLR8 took as his cue to stop and drop her unceremoniously on the ground, where she then curled up into a ball and clutched her stomach, looking like she was about to lose her lunch any second.

Turning, Ben noticed that the gorgeous woman and the leader were also glowing with the blue energy, looking like they were waiting to attack. The lizard alien was still on his device, the big alien looked positively murderous, the bird alien was pointing a rifle straight at XLR8's head, and the dark-skinned man was starting to get back up.

_Oh look, he has the blue glowy powers too,_ Ben thought to himself, groaning inwardly.

And the hooded woman that could turn invisible was gone again. Great.

The eighteen-year-old's patience was running thin. Every moment this team fought against him, the Collectors were taking humans to their ship. And why hadn't they attacked yet, anyway? Were they too occupied somewhere else?

_No more messing around._

"Okay, let me spell this out for you," XLR8 growled in his 'angry hero' voice, beginning to walk slowly toward the leader, who didn't look fazed in the slightest, though he waved for the bird alien to lower his rifle. Soon, they were almost nose-to-nose, neither one willing to back down from the intense staring contest.

"The Collectors are here, kidnapping innocent people, and you're wasting time trying to fight a potential ally. So here's what's gonna happen: I'm going to give you your guns back, and then we're going to fight for this colony, all nine of us."

The Kineceleran's eyes narrowed dangerously. "If you have a problem with that, I'll take down you and your team and handle the Collectors myself. And you know what? It'll be _easy_."

Normally, Ben Tennyson was a well-rounded guy, remaining calm and relatively nice most of the time. However, when stupid choices put innocent lives in danger, his temper would rise, allowing him to become slightly darker and more threatening, not unlike the Ben 10,000 he encountered when he was ten years old. Even Kevin was intimidated when Ben tapped into his dark side.

After a moment of tense silence, the leader finally nodded. "Fair enough. But once this is over, I have some questions I want answered."

"I figured as much," XLR8 noted as he sped off.

The bird-like alien approached his boss, looking curious. "So, what are your thoughts?"

After a brief moment, the soldier in the grey armor answered. "Moving that fast, with those sharp claws? He could have sliced all of our throats in seconds. Why didn't he?"

"So he's a friendly?"

"Well, considering the fact that we're working with a terrorist organization that once tried to kill me," the leader paused, glancing over at the beautiful woman in the white catsuit, "the definition of 'friendly' is getting a little hazy."

* * *

After returning and dropping off the weapons he had stolen from the team, XLR8 was given a quick introduction to each of his new allies.

He already knew Grunt, the massive angry alien.

And as it turns out, the leader _was_ Commander Shepard. Good, saved the teen the trouble of having to track him down later.

The bald woman (who had since puked, gotten back up, and continued to fix XLR8 with a death-glare) was simply known as Jack, a well-known intergalactic criminal.

The bird alien was called Garrus Vakarian, a former 'C-Sec officer', whatever that was.

The hooded woman (who reappeared next to Ben, causing him to jump slightly and a grin to spread across her face), Kasumi Goto, was the galaxy's best thief, apparently.

Mordin Solus, the lizard alien, was one of the galaxy's brightest minds, though he seemed to give off a mad scientist vibe, as he was unable to pry his eyes away from XLR8 for more than five seconds.

Finally, the dark-skinned man and gorgeous woman were named Jacob Taylor and Miranda Lawson.

Ben did a double-take when he heard the latter's name, remembering Paradox's words about being patient with someone named 'Miss Lawson'. And judging by her cold demeanor and piercing gaze, the teen could tell that patience was _definitely_ going to be necessary with her. Plus, it was taking every ounce of self-restraint XLR8 had to not gaze at her magnificent body.

_Good thing Gwen's not here, _he thought to himself. She would have been scandalized at the woman's choice of attire.

After everyone rearmed themselves, they grouped together next to the Commander, while keeping a slight distance from their new shapeshifting squadmate.

"Alright, what's the plan?" XLR8 asked.

Shepard pointed over to the circular platform, the one with the antenna. "We need to use that tower to access the colony's AA guns. We get those running, and we can disable the Collector ship."

"After that, we can breach the ship and rescue the colonists that have already been abducted," the man known as Jacob pointed out.

The transformed Ben Tennyson glanced up at said ship, wondering if he should just go Way Big or Humongousaur and take it out himself. Wouldn't be too hard, really.

But then again, would it really be wise to unveil his biggest guns so soon? If the Collectors escaped, they would be able to study and develop counter-measures (they seemed to possess the technology capable of doing so), which would take one of Ben's most powerful aliens out of the game. Or, even worse, what if they informed the Reapers of the new threat, and forced the genocidal machines to launch their attack early?

To be on the safe side, Ben decided to keep those transformations secret. Never knew when a trump card might come in handy.

"So, elephant in the room," Kasumi chirped as the group approached the platform. "What exactly are you?" she asked, looking over at XLR8.

Though they remained professional, Ben could tell that every member of the team had their ears open, eager to know exactly who they were currently working alongside.

"Bit of a long story," he replied. "Once we're done here, I'm willing to share."

"I suppose that means you intend to keep us alive?" the woman known as Miranda asked, an accusing tone in her voice.

XLR8's eyes narrowed. "Okay, first off, I don't kill people. Not my style. Second, we're on the same side; what's it gonna take for you to realize that?"

The raven-haired operative didn't respond, instead checking her SMG as Shepard approached the console on the platform. The group began spreading out, setting up a perimeter in case the Collectors descended upon them.

The Commander lifted a hand to his ear. "_Normandy_, do you copy?"

As Ben didn't have access to their frequency, he only heard half of a conversation.

After a moment of silence, Shepard spoke again.

"EDI, can you get the colony's defense towers online?"

Another pause.

"How long will it take?"

Pause.

"Alright. We'll handle 'em, you just get those guns firing."

Shepard turned to look at XLR8, who bore a look of confusion. The Commander gave an abridged explanation: "We need to hold off the Collectors for about ten minutes while our tech expert brings those towers online."

Ben cocked his head. "I can probably help."

All heads turned to stare at him again, many with incredulity or a look of doubt.

"Watch this," he smirked as he approached the console and tapped the Omnitrix symbol.

"_UPGRADE!_"

The dinosaur-like creature was gone, replaced by some kind of humanoid with a black back and green front, though its head appeared to be some kind of protrusion and a singular 'eye' stood out on it. The symbol was on its chest, just like the other forms.

Looking around, Ben noticed that half of the team had their weapons trained on him once more. Specifically, Jack, Jacob, Miranda, and Grunt. Mordin, meanwhile, was having a field day, speaking so fast that the teen only caught snippets.

"So, what exactly are you planning to do?" Shepard asked.

"When I'm like this, I can merge with machines and control them. I might be able to speed up the process, get the guns going sooner," Upgrade explained.

"Why do you sound like a teenager?" Kasumi inquired.

Uh-oh.

Ben shrugged, playing it calm, grateful that the Galvanic Mechomorph form didn't show much emotion other than the singular eye that constituted its face. "Just how this guy works, I guess."

Without another word, the green and black alien shifted into a liquid-like form and made contact with the machine, slowly merging with it until the entire platform, including the antenna, bore an appearance similar to that of Upgrade.

A few seconds of surprised looks later, and Garrus spoke up. "Well, our new friend sure is useful."

"Incoming!" Jacob yelled as he fired a blast from his shotgun at a group of Collectors that were swiftly approaching. Behind them, a cluster of husks began to charge forward.

"Spread out! Don't let them flank us!" Shepard ordered as he fired a few rounds from his own rifle before diving behind some nearby cover.

Meanwhile, Upgrade was working as fast as he could to get the towers firing at the Collector ship. Reroute a few connections here, alter some programming there. While performing this task was crucial to the victory of the mission and saving the colonists, it also allowed the teen hero to get used to this universe's technology, which felt very different from his own, though he adjusted quickly. Just a little bit more tweaking, and...

Ben Tennyson inwardly grinned as the sound of cannons firing boomed through the air.

"He did it!" Kasumi shouted as she fired a burst from her SMG and cloaked.

Having ensured that the Collector ship would continue to be fired upon, Upgrade emerged from the console and, while still in liquid form, slid over to Shepard before solidifying once more.

The Commander gave a grateful nod as he glowed with the blue energy power and threw a blast over the crate, blasting away the top half of a husk. "Nice work," he complimented. "Now all we have to do is clear out any resistance between us and the ship."

"I can do that," came the automatic response as Upgrade quickly surveyed the battlefield. While the Galvanic Mechomorph form was useful, combat was not one of its stronger suits. Unless he had something he could use...

Spotting a pair of Collectors that were broken off from the main group, he got an idea.

"Be right back," Ben said as he once again shifted back into his liquid state, making sure to stay low and behind cover so that his enemies wouldn't see him. Nearby, he heard a roar of fury as Grunt charged into a group of husks.

A few more seconds of stealthing across the loud battlefield, Upgrade jumped up from behind the two Collectors, grabbing one by the head and slamming it into the ground while blasting the other one with the laser beam in his eye.

"Now," he muttered to himself as he looked at the pair of rifles the bug aliens had dropped, which looked almost organic in their design, "let's see what you guys are packing."

Ben allowed his arms to stretch down and engulf the guns, absorbing them into his body and allowing him to rapidly scan and comprehend the firepower of the weapons.

The teens eye went from a circle to what appeared to be a boomerang shape. This equated to the Mechomorph narrowing his eye; however, if he had a mouth, one might be able to see his grin.

"Oh, _yeah_," he growled as he lifted his arms, which quickly morphed into heavily modified versions of the rifles.

Without hesitation, the wielder of the Omnitrix charged forward, rapidly firing green energy blasts from his rifle-hands, easily taking down husks and forcing the other Collectors back into cover.

"Yeah, kick their asses, you crazy fucker!" Jack shouted, her earlier annoyance with Ben having suddenly been replaced by manic glee at the sight of her enemies being mowed down.

Shepard couldn't help but smirk at his new ally's tactic. Not only had the shapeshifter commandeered their weaponry and used it against them (which might come in handy for upgrading the squad's weapons later), but he was attacking from the side of the Collectors, flanking them and causing them to be gunned down by multiple angles.

What happened next was a slaughter. Green blasts from Upgrade mowed the husks down, while Shepard and the team focused on the bugs, which proved easy, until...

"**ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL.**"

"Ah, shit," the Commander sighed as one of the Collectors was suddenly engulfed in the familiar glowing energy and cracked skin. "Harbinger's back!"

"That guy has a name?!" Upgrade shouted as he leaped on top of a crate and fired blasts from his guns, which seemed to hit some kind of force field around the altered alien.

"**WE ARE HARBINGER.**"

"Does that answer your question?" Miranda sarcastically replied as she threw an energy attack that impacted the force field.

"We need to take down those kinetic barriers!" Shepard roared. "Jack, hit him hard!"

The psychotic biotic let out a battle cry as she suddenly _disappeared_ in a flash of light and _reappeared_ after crashing into Harbinger, knocking him back a few steps. However, his barriers were still up.

"**HUMAN; VIABLE POSSIBILITY, GREAT BIOTIC POTENTIAL.**"

Before the bald woman could retort with a no-doubt foul response, she was knocked away from a small energy blast that the Collector fired at her.

The loud bang of a sniper rifle permeated the air and struck Harbinger's barrier, causing it to finally shimmer and disappear. Seeing his opportunity, Upgrade released the Collector rifles from his arms and charged toward the glowing bug-alien, reaching up to tap the Omnitrix in the process.

"_CHROMASTONE!_"

The black and green blob was quickly replaced by an alien that appeared to be made of rock, with one eye on its face and a horn stretching up from his head like a unicorn.

Ben used this form's flying powers to launch himself forward and tackle Harbinger, blasting through a few crates and into the side of one of the colonist's homes, leaving a large dent.

The transformed teen stood up, grabbing the enhanced Collector by some of the cracks in its armor and glared down at it. "You're not so tough."

"**ARROGANCE; A HUMAN WEAKNESS. YOU ONLY DAMAGE THE VESSEL, YOU CANNOT HURT ME.**"

Chromastone snorted. "Maybe, but you're doing a pretty bad job at hurting us."

The Collector's head tilted. "**THE PRAETORIAN WILL TEAR YOU APART. RELEASING CONTROL.**"

And with that ominous line, the insect alien stopped glowing and crumbled into ashes, some of which fell into Ben's hand where he had been holding his foe. Blinking once, the wielder of the Omnitrix shook the remains of Harbinger from his hand and began walking back toward Shepard and his squad, who had just finished killing the rest of their opposition.

"Is Harbinger down?" Garrus asked when Chromastone reached them, the Cyclops giving a simple nod before turning to Shepard.

"Anyone know what a Praetorian is?" he asked the Commander.

Miranda decided to answer. "It was a title used during the Roman empire, usually for someone of substantial rank or influence." She cocked her head in confusion. "Why do you ask?"

Ben jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Our glowing buddy back there said something about a Praetorian coming to kick our butts."

Jacob frowned. "Might be a new type of husk, like the Scions."

Kasumi shivered. "I hate those things."

"Let's hope it's a more worthy enemy than these damn bugs," Grunt growled as he walked over to a dead husk and gave it a petulant kick, as if the techno-organic zombie had stolen his Halloween candy.

As if on cue, a loud screeching noise came from across the clearing, on the other side of the AA gun platform. All nine members of the squad felt their jaws drop at what they saw.

Some kind of spider-like abomination was floating through the air towards them, four blue eyes glowing with malice. On the ground, a dozen creatures that looked like husks were approaching, though they all had one of their arms replaced with a cannon, and a large hump on each of their backs made them stumble slowly towards Shepard's team.

"A dozen Scions," Garrus groaned. "That's just fantastic."

"And I'm guessing that the floating crab is the Praetorian?" Shepard asked aloud.

"It certainly appears so," Miranda agreed.

Chromastone just sighed. He honestly should have seen this coming. Things were far too simple, and the enemy had been getting mowed down like practice dummies. The Collectors must have gathered their big guns and sent them all out at one time.

Well, at least things couldn't get any worse, right?

* * *

**So yeah, apologies for being gone for a month. I've been distracted, wanting to write a few other fics alongside this one, though I haven't managed to work on anything since getting Destiny, which is like video game cocaine, it's so addicting.**

**This chapter was going to wrap up the Horizon mission, but I decided to break it up, since you guys have been waiting a while for an update. Anyway, feedback is appreciated.**

**And before I go, a few ideas that I'd like some opinions on.**

**I have some outlines for side projects other than this story, and I am curious as to what you guys might enjoy most.**

**Idea 1: A Star Wars AU, where Starkiller survives and leads the Rebellion against the Empire, all the while recruiting new allies, such as a former Togruta Padawan and a farm boy from Tatooine...**

**Idea 2: The Teen Titans are finally enjoying some peaceful downtime until a strange figure breaks into the Tower, claiming that Slade sends his regards. Who is this man? Well, he has a dark yellow outfit, twin swords, glowing eyes, and... "GET OVER HERE!" (Admittedly I thought of this story after two days without sleep and a LOT of coffee; weird idea, but intriguing).**

**Idea 3: A multiverse fic, similar to Bigby the Big Bad Wolf's "Snow Queen/Winter Knight" series. Much like Doctor Who, with my character travelling to famous universes and solving unexpected problems, all the while attempting to run from his past sins. No TARDIS, protagonist is a pretty bad guy.**

**Prepare yourselves for next chapter, because I'm gonna do something that's probably going to make a few of you hate me...**


	3. The Defeat Effect

**Alright, chapter 3. So glad it didn't take a month to write this thing.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

**Chapter 3: The Defeat Effect**

Commander Shepard let out a growl as his impressive tactical mind quickly summarized the situation. A dozen Scions, heavily modified husks with armor and biotic cannons, were currently locked in combat with an N7 soldier, a vigilante, a scientist, a thief, a genetic experiment, a convict, and two terrorists, while some strange shape-shifting creature claiming to be their ally was battling a monstrous spider-like husk known as a Praetorian.

While this scenario might seem strange to most, for Shepard, it was probably an eight out of ten on the weird scale. Honestly, after running into extinct species, mind-controlling plants, and a race of genocidal techno-organic machines, this really wasn't all that different from the norm.

"How's our new friend doing?!" he loudly asked Garrus, who was currently firing a round into a Scion's head, with mixed results.

"Not sure!" the turian yelled back, the thundering sound of Scion cannons blocking out most other noises. "Last I saw, he and that bug thing were flying east!"

"The ugly prick probably quit the field!" Jack roared as she Charged another Scion, knocking it on its back before she retreated behind cover.

Shepard didn't respond, quickly lighting up his relatively new biotics and firing a Warp at one of his enemies.

The first human Spectre had been a trained soldier and infiltrator before, relying on weapons and a handful of tech attacks to take on his opponents. But when Cerberus had revived him, they decided to throw in some biotic abilities along with the upgrades to his muscles and skeletal system. Now, he was the living definition of a 'super-soldier', though he still didn't trust or like Cerberus.

He was only human, after all.

"Garrus, I want you, Mordin, and Kasumi inside one of these buildings!" he ordered. "Give us some cover fire!"

The turian sharpshooter nodded and headed for a nearby house, making sure to dodge any incoming attacks. A slight shimmering of the air behind him revealed that the Japanese thief had heard the Commander's order as well, followed quickly by the salarian scientist, who fired off an Incinerate as he did so.

"Jacob, you and Grunt go in from the sides, try and herd them into one group and make them an easier target!"

The muscular dark-skinned man gave a determined nod, tapping the krogan on the shoulder and relaying the order. The former circled around the right, the latter the left.

"Miranda, Jack! We're gonna hit these bastards with as many biotic attacks as possible!"

While the two ladies hated each others' guts, they knew better than to question Shepard's commands on the battlefield, and immediately began flinging Warps, Throws, and Shockwaves at the Scions.

The Commander felt a smirk cross his face as two of the deformed husks went down, moaning in agony as they died.

"Yeah, eat shit!" Jack yelled in triumph, causing her to redouble her efforts.

"At least somebody's having fun," Miranda commented as she ejected a spent thermal clip from her SMG.

"What, you're not?" Shepard quipped, allowing himself a hint of levity. Two down, ten to go. Then they could-

"**ASSUMING CONTROL OF THIS FORM.**"

The N7 felt his blood grow cold as he twisted his head around, a lone Collector approaching the team, energy glowing from the cracks in its shell.

"God dammit," he swore. "Miranda, with me! We're gonna kill this bastard. The rest of you, keep working on the Scions!"

The two genetically modified humans quickly partnered up and began firing on the incoming Harbinger.

"**YOU WILL KNOW PAIN, SHEPARD.**"

"Looks like you have their attention," Miranda noted dryly.

"I feel so honored," came the retort as Shepard readied to throw a grenade.

* * *

Chromastone groaned as he was hit by the Praetorian's eye blasts once more. Normally, he'd be able to absorb the energy from such attacks, but the damn spider monstrosity wouldn't allow him a moment's rest.

_Gotta be Harbinger getting back at me,_ Ben thought to himself as he sat up, on his knees with his hands on the ground.

The transformed teen had flown away from Shepard and his team, hoping to keep the Praetorian distracted and give the squad a better chance against the other tech-zombie-things.

Unfortunately, the big machine was proving to be tougher than Ben gave it credit for, something he was currently beating himself up over. Hadn't he learned to stop underestimating enemies when he was fifteen? Then again, considering he had been dealing with idiots like Animo and Sunder for the past year or so, things had been far too easy recently.

Time to get back in the saddle.

Chromastone quickly leaped into the air, dodging another energy blast from the Praetorian, and thrust his fists forward, unleashing his own blast of multi-colored energy, sending the spider sprawling onto its belly, legs sticking out comically as if the abomination was sitting on its butt.

"Yeah, how do you like it?" Ben quipped as he landed, crossing his arms over his chest.

In response, his mechanical opponent stood up and seemed to glow before unleashing pulses of blue power. While Chromastone was too far away for the attack to touch him, his single eye narrowed as he watched the Praetorian continue to glow, even when it took to the air.

"Hm. Got your own barrier too, huh?" he noted, remembering when Harbinger did something similar. In the distance, he could still hear gunfire, and what sounded like a small explosion.

"Shepard might need my help," Chromastone said to himself, the Praetorian obviously incapable of answering. "So, I'm just gonna make this quick."

And with that, he tapped his the Omnitrix dial on his chest.

* * *

Miranda winced as Harbinger's attack blasted away a good chunk of the crate she had been hiding behind, small pieces of it landing in her hair and on her tight catsuit.

_Might have to look into wearing something heavier after this,_ she thought to herself. While her white outfit looked like something a stripper would wear, it was actually a highly advanced outfit that granted her a level of protection equal to anything Shepard had worn during his hunt for Saren. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to match up to Collector tech. Upgrades were definitely required.

_Along with study of that creature__, _she added. While she would prefer to capture it and send it off to Cerberus in order to examine and analyze it, she knew Shepard would most likely want to recruit it for his team. Still it was a fascinating specimen, sure to make even the most emotionless of Cerberus's scientists salivate with excitement.

"Garrus, how's the Scion situation?" Shepard barked into his earpiece.

"_Jack took one down, got nine left. Wait... Make that eight._"

"Keep it up!" the Commander ordered as he fired a few rounds from his rifle. His attack was swiftly cut off by a blast from Harbinger slamming into his chest, knocking him onto his back and firing the air from his lungs. He made a mental note to thank Miranda after the battle; if it weren't for the upgrades given to him by the Lazarus Project, the blast would have killed him instantaneously. Instead, all he had was a charred and cracked chest piece, along with what felt like a broken rib. Or two.

Miranda ran over, activating her Omni-tool and running a quick diagnostic as she dragged him behind cover once more.

"I did _not_ bring you back to life just so you could die on some colony world!" she yelled, satisfied that his injuries were minor. Before he could reply with a witty retort, she picked up her SMG with her left hand and Shepard's assault rifle with her right. Taking a deep breath to prepare herself, the genetically perfect woman stood up, over their shared cover and opened fire with both weapons, the bullets rapidly hitting Harbinger's barrier.

"**HUMAN; VIABLE POSSIBILITY, IMPRESSIVE GENETIC MALLEABILITY.**"

The Lawson woman resisted the urge to roll her eyes and continued to fire until both weapons' clips were empty. She felt a smirk of pride grow on her sexy lips as the Collector's barriers went down.

As Harbinger lifted its hand and prepared to fire off a large orb of power, Miranda saw something rapidly approaching from overhead. She looked up just in time to see a large shape fall from the sky and land on top of the possessed Collector, kicking up a cloud of dust in the process.

Shepard groaned slightly as he sat up, attempting to see what happened to his glowing foe.

Once the dust cleared, the two humans felt their eyes widen at the large creature before them. It appeared to be a nine-foot-tall anthropomorphic tiger, with huge rippling muscles, green eyes, and a claw extending from each wrist. Its left hand was clenched around a large metal sphere, which Miranda quickly realized was the remains of the Praetorian.

"My god," she breathed, in awe of the being's obvious power.

The tiger raised an eyebrow. "**Nope! Just Rath, the baddest of the bad! The king of mean! The cat who's all that!**"

Shepard and Miranda shared a confused glance. Judging by the symbol on his (Rath's?) chest, it was obviously their shape-shifting friend. But while he seemed so intelligent and tactical before, now he was just... childish, to put it politely.

"Yeah, great, but you think you can handle the Scions?" the Commander asked, jerking a thumb over his shoulder, the action causing him to wince from the twinge of pain in his chest.

"**Amateurs. Fine, Rath is on the job!**" the tiger-man roared as he lifted the Praetorian's corpse over his head and chucked it. Miranda watched in awe as the sphere of metal crushed a Scion like a bug.

What happened next was a slaughter, as Rath leaped into the fray. In a handful of seconds, the remaining Scions were crushed, stabbed, and even bisected by the monstrous alien. The last one standing fired a shockwave blast in the transformed teen's face, which Rath simply shrugged off before grabbing the deformed being and ripping it in half.

The squad stared in a mix of awe and horror, amazed by how quickly the creature had defeated such powerful enemies while simultaneously glad that he was on their side. The only sound being made was the occasional blast from the AA guns.

"Well, shit," Jack said, which summed up everyone's feelings on the matter quite nicely.

"Now _that_ is a warrior!" Grunt bellowed, letting out a roar of excitement.

The team quickly formed back together, giving the tiger-creature a respectful distance in case he was still feeling aggressive.

"I'm not into all that 'furry' shit, but that was kinda hot," Jack said, grinning.

Jacob took a cautious step away from her.

Shepard cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention to him. The Commander waved Mordin over, the salarian quickly slapping some medi-gel on Shepard's chest.

"Alright, looks like we've suppressed the Collectors for now, due in no small part to our large friend," he said, glancing toward Rath, who crossed his massive arms over his chest and gave a smug smile.

"Now, we need to infiltrate their ship, and we'll split into three teams. First-" Shepard's orders were quickly cut off as the ground started shaking, and a loud rumbling filled the air.

"The ship!" Jacob yelled, pointing toward the massive object.

Indeed, the Collector ship's engines were firing up, the bottom of it beginning to spew forth flames.

"They're gonna get away with the colonists!" Garrus exclaimed.

"**Not if Rath has anything to say about it!**" came the tiger's roar as he crouched down, preparing his powerful leg muscles to leap into the air toward the ship. Unfortunately, a bright green flash filled the area, replacing the towering creature with a young man around eighteen years of age, with brown hair, a green jacket, black shirt, and blue jeans.

"Aw man, not now!" Ben said, glancing over at his left wrist, where he noticed the Omnitrix was currently out of power.

"What the _fuck_?!" Jack yelled, confused at what she had just witnessed.

Any further comments were drowned out as the ship went full blast with its engines, taking into the air at a speed that belied its size. In a matter of minutes, the bright light of its emission was gone, leaving Ben with Shepard's squad and a drained Omnitrix.

"No! Don't let them get away!" came a panicked yell.

Everyone quickly turned to the source of the voice, most of them raising their weapons in the process. A lone man in a sports cap was running forward, as if he were attempting to catch up to the Collector ship.

"You're letting them get away?!" the man yelled, his eyes giving off a slightly manic look.

"What the hell do you expect us to do about it?" Grunt snarled. "You see any wings on us?"

"Half the colony's in there! They got Egan and Stan... and _Lilith_! Do something!"

Shepard turned toward Ben. "You can't go after them?"

The teen shook his head and raised his left wrist. "Out of juice."

"Damn," the Commander swore, though he sounded more tired than anything. "I didn't want it to end this way, but we did everything we could."

"If it wasn't for Shepard, everyone in the colony would be on that ship," Garrus growled.

The angry man looked back at the Commander, a spark of recognition in his eyes. "Shepard? I know that name. You're some type of big Alliance hero, right?"

"Commander Shepard," came a male voice.

All heads turned to see a man with dark hair and wearing armor approach. While Ben didn't recognize him, the Commander and Garrus straightened up when he appeared, so chances were high that they were acquainted.

"Captain of the SSV Normandy. The first human Spectre. Hero of Elysium and Savior of the Citadel," the dark-haired man listed off, stopping once he was within a few feet of Shepard, a warm smile on his face that gave off an almost brotherly aura. It made Ben think of himself and Kevin, though their relationship was a little more 'friendly-rivalry' than what he was witnessing now.

The friendly man turned to the angry one. "You're in the presence of a legend, Delan. And a ghost."

"All the good people we lost and you get left behind," the other man, Delan, complained. "Figures."

"Shut up," Shepard growled. "You cower in a bunker while other people fight to save your friends, and then you judge us? Get out of my sight before I have Grunt break your legs."

Delan looked over at the krogan, who proceeded to crack his knuckles for dramatic effect.

With that, the useless man ran off like a coward.

The friendly dark-haired man stared at Shepard for a few seconds before extending an arm, hand open. "I thought you were dead, Commander. We all did."

Giving a genuine smile, the undead Spectre reached out and shook his friend's hand. "It's been too long, Kaidan. I bet you've got a ton of questions."

"He always did like asking them," a certain turian quipped, prompting the turian to receive a similar handshake.

"Good to see you, Garrus," Kaidan said, though he raised an eyebrow at his former ally's scarred visage.

Meanwhile, Ben stood awkwardly off to the side, not sure of what to do with himself. Instead, he gazed off into the sky, the smoke trail of the Collector ship still lingering slightly.

He had failed.

All of those innocent people relying on him to be the hero he always was, and he failed them. Now they were gone, and even if he managed to chase after them when the Omnitrix recharged, their trail was long gone.

Was it his fault? If he had gone Humongousaur or Way Big, could he have stopped the ship from leaving?

So many questions, variables, what ifs...

Ben felt himself wishing that Gwen were there with him. She always knew the right thing to say, and when to say it.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly to all of the people that were now gone, and turned to walk back over to his new allies. He would not fail anyone else in this universe. That was a promise.

The teen hero leaned against a crate, a few feet away from everyone else while Shepard and Kaidan's friendly reunion went downhill at a rapid pace.

"You're with Cerberus now?" the latter exclaimed, sounding horrified and infuriated, with a hint of accusation thrown in for good measure. "I can't believe the reports were right."

"Reports?" Garrus asked, intrigued. "You already heard something?"

"Alliance Intel thought Cerberus might be behind the missing colonies. They got a tip that this one might be the next to get hit. I couldn't get anything straight out of Anderson, but there were rumors that you weren't dead," Kaidan explained. "And that you were working for the enemy."

Shepard sighed. "Kaidan, I was _dead_. Nothing but meat and tubes. Cerberus brought me back, and now they're backing me while I take down the Collectors. That's it."

"I can't believe this," the dark-haired man scoffed. "You remember what Cerberus did. With the thresher maws, with _Kahoku_! You've turned your back on everything we stood for!"

Ben felt himself frowning, unsure of what was happening. Maybe he should have asked Paradox for some background information before agreeing to this mission. Alliance, Cerberus, thresher maws? He sighed, knowing that a large amount of research was in his future. Fortunately, he could use Ditto to read everything at once and absorb the knowledge faster.

Shepard seemed to be losing his patience at this point. "Kaidan, you _know_ me. You know I'd only do this for the right reason. You _saw_ the Collectors abducting those people!"

"And they're working for the Reapers," Ben piped up, drawing all eyes toward him.

"Yeah, are we gonna ask about the wonder-kid here, or is that on hold?" Kasumi joked.

"I want to believe you, Shepard," Kaidan said. "But I don't trust Cerberus. Hell, what if they're working with the Collectors and using the Reaper threat to manipulate you?"

The Commander looked like he was about to punch his former friend in the face when a large object dropped down near them, diverting all attention away from the argument.

It was Delan; he was dead, his neck bent at a horrible angle.

"**FACE YOUR ANNIHILATION.**"

A single Collector approached, glowing with Harbinger's power, its arm drawing forth energy, which it aimed right at Shepard.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Weapons were drawn, biotics were flared up, and Omni-tools were activated. Ben reflexively slapped down on the Omnitrix, rapidly yelling the emergency override code, which would allow him to transform even if the battery timed out. He wouldn't be able to transform for a large amount of time, but this definitely counted as an emergency.

"_DIAMONDHEAD!_" came the yell as the transformed teen pushed Shepard out of the way. The blast fired, and the Petrosapien dodged the attack before charging forward, sharpening his right arm into a blade, and thrusting it into Harbinger's gut.

"**DEATH IS ASSURED.**"

With those final words, the Collector crumbled to dust, and Ben allowed a smirk of victory to appear on his face. He had needed that.

What he heard next made his blood run cold.

"_Kaidan!__"_

* * *

Twenty minutes later, the ground team was landing onboard the _Normandy_, with Ben having transformed back to normal before the shuttle arrived to pick them up. The ride back had been deathly quiet for the most part, the only noise being Mordin's rapid-fire speech as he attempted to stabilize Kaidan.

The eighteen-year-old felt sick to his stomach for multiple reasons. For one, Kaidan's chest plate had been annihilated, leaving his torso to be ripped apart. The universe-saving teen could see rips and organs.

Again, he felt a crushing sense of guilt. If he had turned into Chromastone or Upchuck, he could have taken the blast instead. Or if he had been XLR8, he could have pushed them all out of the way. Instead, his choice had saved Shepard, but Kaidan was knocking on death's door, even with a large amount of medi-gel attempting to assist in healing his wounds.

The squad threw a few glances toward him, but none of them asked any questions. That part would come later, no question.

Ben glanced at the watch and checked to see how long until it was fully recharged. Nine hours, forty-six minutes, twelve seconds.

The shuttle door opened, and a handful of crew members quickly placed Kaidan on a stretcher before leading him to the elevator, Mordin following close behind. Shepard remained behind, quiet as the grave, his head lowered. Ben idly took note of his surroundings. He didn't get a chance to see the outside of the ship when they were flying up to it, but he hoped it looked as nice as the hangar bay. Seriously, was it supposed to look this good?

"Everyone get comfortable," Shepard ordered, locking eyes with Ben. "I think it's time we got some answers."

So, the remaining members of the squad removed their weapons and placed them on the ground or on top of crates. Kasumi took a seat on the shuttle, while everyone else elected to stand. Miranda activated her Omni-tool, making sure to record the upcoming interrogation for posterity. She'd send it to the Illusive Man immediately after this was over.

"Alright," Ben said, seating himself on top of a small crate. "Ask away."

"Who the hell are you?" Shepard asked almost instantaneously.

"My name is Ben Tennyson."

"What the hell were those things you kept turning into?" Garrus asked.

"Aliens."

"Impossible, no such beings exist in this galaxy," Miranda scoffed.

Ben sighed at that. "And that's where my story gets a little confusing."

"Confusing how?" the Commander inquired.

The teen scratched the back of his head. "Anyone here familiar with the Multiverse Theory?"

Miranda made the connection almost immediately. "Are you saying those forms come from alternate universes?"

"They all come from one alternate universe," he corrected. "My universe, actually."

"Bullshit," Jack blurted out, taking a seat on the floor of the hangar bay and crossing her legs.

"I don't know," Jacob interjected. "Considering the crazy shit we just witnessed him do, I'd believe it."

Shepard appeared to be deep in thought, weighing everything he had just heard in his mind. It was unbelievably far-fetched, which actually made it plausible. Why else would anyone use such a ridiculous story unless it were true? Plus, those forms and their impressive capabilities?

No other option really made sense, funnily enough.

"Alright, so you're from another universe," the Commander stated, taking it all in stride. "How'd you get to ours?"

"An immortal time-travelling professor," came the reply.

"You're really pushing your luck, kid," Shepard deadpanned.

Ben shrugged. "It's the truth. Either you believe me, or you don't. Doesn't change the fact that I'm here, or that I just saved your butts from the Praetorian."

"Fair enough. But how exactly do you turn into those aliens?"

The teen held up his wrist. "It's called the Omnitrix. It lets you transform into any alien species in its database, which is a little more than a million."

A stunned silence filled the hangar bay.

"But," Ben continued, "I can only use like sixty right now. I kinda lost count."

"How come I don't have one of those?" Garrus joked.

"Only one in existence, sorry," the eighteen-year-old explained. "And it's coded so that I'm the only one that can use it. Anyone else tries to take it from me or wear it, and..."

While it was true that only he could use it, the implied threat was actually a lie; Ben decided that he needed to ward off any potential thieves. In particular, he didn't like the looks Kasumi and Jack were directing at his wrist.

"So, if you're a shape-shifter from another universe, then why are you are?" Miranda asked.

The boy's face became grim. "I was sent here to help you guys fight the Reapers. I heard about what they do, what they've been doing for millions of years. I plan on taking them down."

Shepard stared at the kid, amazed at his conviction. And his eyes...

A kid that age shouldn't have those eyes. They were hard, determined, and fearless, with a hint of emotional scarring that only one who experienced true loss can understand.

The Commander approached the teen and extended his hand. "Welcome to the team, Tennyson."

Ben smiled and stood up, shaking Shepard's hand with enthusiasm.

Almost as if on cue, the elevator door opened, and an older woman wearing what looked like a medical uniform stepped out, rapidly approaching Shepard with a grim countenance on her features.

"Any news?" Shepard asked, his heart thundering in his chest.

"I'm sorry, John," the woman said, her voice shaking ever so slightly. "He's gone."

* * *

**I'm just gonna slowly put on my bulletproof vest and my flame-proof blanket...**

**Yeah, there's actually three reasons I killed off Kaidan. The first: I hate him so much. Seriously, he and Ashley are just horrible characters; one of the toughest decisions in the games for me is who to nuke in the first game and who to shoot in the third. You tell me to f*ck off in the second game and then try to kiss up to me in the third? Nope, bullet for you.**

**The second reason has to do with Mass Effect 3. Specifically, the beginning, with the escape from Earth and all that.**

**Reason three: CLASSIFIED. Seriously though, it's crazy. I have a plan! *evil laugh***

**Anyway, not much to say. Next chapter is a little character interaction, followed by Tali's recruitment! Hooray!**

**Also, I'm thinking of starting up a side fic (another one, I know, go ahead and roll your eyes), this one based off of Judge Royce's "Ultimate Romance" (another eye roll here, I swear I'm not gonna rip off all of his work!), though this one would just be Ben hooking up with Mass Effect girls only. Everyone from Tali, Jack, and Kasumi to Aria, Nyreen, and even that Rodriguez girl from Grissom Academy. Maybe even multi-girl chapters, if I can get them right. What do you guys think?**

**P.S. "Alien: Isolation" is the scariest game EVER. Seriously, it's a nonstop adrenaline rush.**

**P.S.S. Anyone here play Destiny on the Xbox 360? If so, PM me and we can do some missions together!**

**Reviews will be chopped up in the bathroom stall of a Buffalo Wild Wings and snorted through a $20 bill. DON'T DO DRUGS!**


	4. The Pep Talk Effect

**Wow, chapter 4 practically wrote itself in my head almost immediately.**

**So a few people say that my last chapter felt rushed. In all honesty, I sat down and wrote it in one sitting and published it almost immediately. The Horizon mission always bored me because there was no motivation to actually succeed. I hate Kaidan and Ashley, the colonists gave off a douchebag vibe (I killed Delan for purely vindictive purposes), and there was no real personal stake involved.**

**But now we have character development and closer-to-home story missions, so I think I'll definitely do better here.**

* * *

**Chapter 4: The Pep Talk Effect**

It felt as if the ship itself was mourning Kaidan's death.

There was no idle conversation, no smirks of victory, no celebration of the fact that Shepard's squad had driven the Collectors off of Horizon. In the end, the price had been too high, with a large number of colonists in the hands of the insectoid aliens and one of the finest soldiers in the galaxy lying lifeless in the med-bay.

The members of the squad had their own way of dealing with the loss. Miranda continued her duties, filing reports and sending off all the data about their new shape-shifting ally to the Illusive Man. Garrus went back to work on the weapon systems of the ship shortly after paying final respects to Kaidan's body. Mordin performed research in his lab, doing everything he could to grant the team extra advantages over the Collectors. Jacob cleaned and repaired the squad's weapons, though he did it with a tired resignation. Kasumi, Jack, and Grunt had vanished to their rooms, with the latter two showing a very rare respectful silence as they did so.

The real problem was Shepard, who had stormed off to give a piece of his mind to the Illusive Man before retiring to the Captain's Cabin on the top floor (or "deck", in nautical terms) of the ship.

Which left Ben Tennyson sitting in the Mess Hall of the ship, unsure of what to do with himself.

The eighteen-year-old hero felt his sense of failure deepen, unable to comprehend what had just occurred. He was the Protector of Earth, Savior of the Universe, and Vanquisher of Vilgax. He had defeated supervillains, armies, even beings with abilities that bordered on godhood. Ben had accomplished all of those things, and yet, after not even being in this new universe for a day, he had allowed nearly one-third of Horizon's population to be taken away, and failed to prevent the death of an honored war hero.

Ben wasn't a child anymore. He was very much aware that it was impossible to save everyone. For every villain he stopped, another broke out of jail. For every war he prevented, a dozen more broke out somewhere else in the galaxy. Plus, Paradox had even warned him that his actions might indirectly lead to someone's death.

Still, it didn't make the reality any easier.

The teen hero glanced at the Omnitrix once more. Eight and a half hours until it was able to be used again. Great.

With a sigh, Ben stood up and walked past a group of crew members (who stared at him with undisguised confusion, wondering how someone so young had wound up on the _Normandy_), heading straight for the Main Battery.

_Might as well talk to someone and get my bearings__, _he thought, figuring that Garrus was not only closer, but he seemed one of the friendlier people in Shepard's squad.

Ben tapped the green hologram on the door, which _swooshed_ open and revealed the armored bird-like alien hunkered over a console.

Garrus turned his head to the right, looking at the eighteen-year-old with the eye that wasn't covered by a visor. "You know, I've seen many weird things in my time under Shepard's command," the sniper commented as he looked back at his console. "But a dimension-hopping teenager that can shapeshift? That probably takes the top spot."

The wielder of the Omnitrix gave a wry smile as he entered, the door shutting behind him. "Yeah, I get that a lot. This actually isn't even the first time I've crossed into another universe."

"Really? Hm, you must have a lot of interesting stories, then."

"A few, yeah," Ben said as he leaned against the wall on the right side of the Main Battery.

"But I'm guessing you're here for another reason than to talk about your life experiences," Garrus hypothesized, typing on a few keys before fully turning his attention to the boy with the green jacket.

The teen shrugged. "Well, I'm kinda new here. Would it be alright if I asked you a few questions? Try and figure out the lay of the land, so to speak."

"I don't see why not. It's the least I could do after the way you saved our asses against the Collectors."

"You guys were doing fine," Ben pointed out. "I just sped things up a bit."

Garrus cocked his head to the side. "Well, aren't you the humble one? Anyone else with that kind of ability would probably be cocky as hell."

A small chuckle came from the teenager. "I used to be that way. It annoyed my cousin and best friend like you wouldn't believe."

"Well, if you were anything like that big orange creature, I can see why."

"Yeah, that happens with Rath. He's an Appoplexian; big, dumb, and stronger than you would believe."

The bird-alien's mandibles twitched in an amused fashion. "I guess every universe has at least one species like that."

"What's yours?"

"Well, I'd say the krogan. For the most part, they're ill-tempered with a love of battle. But there are a few individuals that don't follow the norm." He noticed Ben's confused expression, then realized that the teen didn't even know the species of the galaxy yet. "The krogan are Grunt's species."

"Ah. Yeah, that was gonna be one of my questions. I don't really know anything about the races in this universe," the wielder of the Omnitrix stated sheepishly.

"Well, take a seat," the alien said, gesturing toward a pile of metal boxes nearby. "I'm gonna give you a crash course on everything you need to know."

"Including whatever 'Cerberus' is?"

The bird alien's eyes darkened ever so slightly. "_Especially_ what Cerberus is."

* * *

About an hour later, Garrus had given Ben a decent enough explanation of the many varied species of the galaxy, which would allow him to recognize their appearances and little quirks if he ran across them (which he most likely would).

Garrus's species were known as the turians, who were heavily militarized and incredibly skilled warriors. Basically, they were space Spartans.

The salarians, Mordin's people, were amphibious aliens known for their hyperactive metabolisms and high intelligence.

Grunt was a member of the krogan race, who bore many similarities to Rath: big, violent, angry, and extremely tough. Unfortunately, it seemed that they had reason to be angry; the salarians had created a biological weapon known as the genophage, which reduced their ability to reproduce to near zero. The turians then chose to unleash it, and the krogan despised them both for it.

Ben had strong feelings about that, though he kept them to himself. He made a mental note to find out who was responsible for the genophage and introduce them to Humongousaur.

There were other races that the teen had not seen yet, but his newfound turian friend gave good descriptions.

The asari were pretty much the top dogs of the galactic community; an all-female race with blue skin, tentacles on their head, and the ability to mate with any species, regardless of gender.

Quarians were a race that were forced to live in environmental suits, as their immune systems were extremely weak, and the slightest hint of germs could make them sick. They also created the geth, a hostile synthetic race that had driven the quarians from their homeworld, leaving them to live as nomads aboard a large fleet of ships known as the Flotilla.

The batarians and vorcha were described as relatively unpleasant, as the former despised humanity with a passion and the latter were considered space vermin, incapable of true speech and willing to devour anything they came across.

Garrus quickly summarized the three other races, as most of them were rarely seen outside of combat. The elcor were a large people that walked on all fours and spoke in an emotionless voice, as they normally communicated with each other through subtle movements. The volus were practically the lawyers and bankers of the galaxy; not good when it comes to fighting, but excellent when it came to economics. Hanar were a polite race that resembled squid or jellyfish, highly religious but basically pleasant to be around. The hanar had also saved another race, the drell, from extinction, and now shared their homeworld of Kahje with them.

And then the turian explained what Cerberus was, and Ben felt a deep anger growing inside him as his darker side was awoken once more.

Apparently, Cerberus was a human-centric organization that believed humanity should dominate the galaxy, and were willing to go to extreme lengths to make that happen. They performed cruel experiments, killed anyone that dare get in their way (including Alliance admiral Kahoku), and even kidnapped children to test their biotic capabilities.

"That's sick," the teen growled, his fists clenched tightly at his sides. He quickly glanced down to the Omnitrix, seeing that he had less than seven hours before he could transform again. It was a good thing, too. If he could change, chances are he'd charge into Miranda's office and do something stupid, more than likely involving a more destructive alien, such as Heatblast.

"Indeed. Shepard's not exactly fond of them, either, but this is one of those 'desperate time, desperate measures' situations," Garrus commented.

"But why? Everyone keeps saying he's a big hero. Why can't he just ask this 'Citadel Council' for help? Or the Alliance?" Ben asked.

"Because he died."

Oh, right. He remembered hearing as much on Horizon.

"What happened?"

"The short version? Shepard was running a patrol when he was attacked. He and twenty other crewmen went down with the ship, the first _Normandy_. Somehow, Cerberus recovered his body and put him back together."

"Who attacked him?"

"We don't know. Any data was destroyed along with the SR-1. Personally, I think it was the Collectors. No other species has access to technology that can destroy a ship that fast, especially one as advanced as the _Normandy_."

"So they killed him, and he was brought back to life to kill them back?"

Garrus barked out a quick laugh. "Yeah, that seems to sum it up nicely."

A comfortable silence began to fill the Main Battery, though Ben felt his thoughts drift to one important question. One that could prove problematic, but had to be asked. "How did you and Shepard know Kaidan?"

The turian's face became grim, gaining a haunted look that the teen hero knew all too well, having witnessed it on many veterans of great battles.

"Kaidan was one of Shepard's squad members when we were chasing Saren two years ago," Garrus explained. "But more than that, he was Shepard's _first _squad member. Before I or Tali or Wrex joined up, there was Kaidan and Jenkins, and then Ashley."

"What happened to them?"

"Jenkins was killed almost immediately after they landed on Eden Prime for their first mission. Ashley sacrificed herself to destroy one of Saren's bases with a nuke."

Ben lowered his head, partly because he was horrified and partly out of respect for the Shepard's lost comrades.

Garrus continued speaking. "Shepard has lost more than most. He grew up on the streets of Earth, no parents, ran with gangs to stay alive. He's lost friends, his ship, and his life. And yet he still keeps going, fighting and sacrificing for a galaxy that distrusts him and discredits his warnings. I'm not sure if it's admirable or heartbreaking."

"Maybe a bit of both?" the teen guessed.

"Probably."

Another silence descended upon them, with Ben contemplating his newfound knowledge and Garrus watching him like a hawk, those piercing eyes giving off a very intimidating stare.

The eighteen-year-old stood up and stretched, a few joints in his body cricking in protest. "I'm gonna drop by Shepard's room. See if he wants to talk."

"What makes you think he wants to talk to anybody?' the turian asked, his tone more curious than accusatory, as most would assume.

"Because I've lost friends before. I've been beaten. I was actually killed once. Technically," he added, noticing Garrus's disbelieving expression. "And I know what it's like to give up your life for the greater good. I got the Omnitrix when I was ten-years-old, Garrus. I didn't really get to experience much of a normal childhood."

With that, Ben left the Main Battery, throwing a grateful nod at the sniper as the doors closed behind him.

The scarred vigilante chuckled to himself. "We always pick up the most interesting people."

* * *

Ben quickly found himself standing in front of the elevator, arms crossed over his chest as he waited for it to arrive from the Cargo Bay. He wasn't alone for long however, as a certain familiar form in a revealing white outfit rounded the corner, eyes going back and forth across a data-pad at speeds that would make a die-hard nerd like Gwen jealous.

Miranda glanced up quickly when she noticed her teenage ally standing in the hallway.

"Mr. Tennyson," she said courteously, giving a slight nod as she stood next beside him, obviously waiting for the elevator to arrive as well.

Ben said nothing, instead using all of his willpower to avoid starting a confrontation with this woman. While Garrus had explained that Jacob was an honest enough person that joined Cerberus simply to avoid red tape (a situation Ben sympathized with, as Plumber rules and regulations were always a pain to deal with), the Lawson woman was a full-blown Cerberus loyalist, dedicated to the cause and willing to do whatever she had to in order to advance the terrorist organization and its goals.

In other words, someone to be wary of.

"I've taken the liberty of assigning the starboard cargo hold as your quarters, if that's alright with you," she continued.

"Sure," he said tersely, really hoping for the elevator to hurry up. Why did the beautiful women always have to be the craziest ones that like to work for terrorist cells and/or destroy planets?

Miranda, having a genius-level intellect and a gift for reading people, picked up on the boy's hostility almost immediately. "Have I done something to offend you?"

"You? I don't know yet. Cerberus? Yeah, pretty much," the boy growled.

The raven-haired woman quickly analyzed the situation in her head. Most of the security cameras that had been installed on the ship were gone, removed by Shepard and his allies almost immediately after they were brought on-board. However, a handful still remained, and one of them saw Ben going into the Main Battery about an hour ago, not coming out the entire time.

She could only assume that Garrus had told the boy about all of Cerberus's less-than-valiant deeds, such as the thresher maws on Akuze or the assassination of Kahoku, both of which she knew were perpetrated by a rogue cell that had damaged her organization's name.

After sending her report to the Illusive Man, she had received a simple message: _Keep an eye on this Ben Tennyson; gain his trust by any means necessary_.

Fortunately, Miranda was excellent at manipulating people, able to bend almost anyone to her will. However, she did not want to jump to lies and deceit (or, if nothing else worked, seduction) just yet. She would get a feel for the boy first, see how things worked back in his universe before using any strategy. Maybe humanity was in as poor a position of power there as it was here.

"I suppose Garrus told you about Kahoku?" she guessed as the elevator door closed, leaving a genetically perfect woman and a shape-shifting dimension-hopping teenager alone in a confined space together. This situation had to be handled delicately.

"And Corporal Toombs."

The Cerberus operative looked over her options, and decided that honesty was the best way to go in this situation. She pushed the button for the CIC while Ben pressed on the Captain's Cabin.

"I understand that we must look like a xenophobic terrorist organization," she began, allowing a hint of her own passion to slip into her words. "And most of the time, the people we recruit possess that particular mindset. But there's more to us than simple prejudice."

"Really?" came the simple, sarcasm-heavy reply.

Miranda nodded. "Our primary goal is to make sure that humanity isn't left behind by the other races. We're new to the galactic community, only discovering the other races less than three decades ago, and we almost ended up at war with the turians after that little incident."

"The way I hear it, Cerberus wants humans to be top dog," Ben pointed out, the irony of the statement not escaping his notice.

"While it may appear that way, we simply want humanity to stand strong. We have multiple cells meant to advance our species in multiple ways; political, scientific, military. All of it watched over by the Illusive Man."

The elevator doors opened, allowing entrance to the CIC.

Miranda turned fully to the teen shape-shifter, who was only an inch or so taller than her. "I have work to do. If you wish to continue this discussion, drop by my office when you have some downtime. Remember, there's two sides to every story. All I ask is that you see things from our perspective."

With that, the beautiful woman exited the elevator, with Ben fighting to not watch her backside as she left. He could swear she had put an extra sway in her hips just now...

About a minute later, the door opened to reveal the Captain's Cabin. More specifically, the door to the Captain's Cabin.

Ben stepped forward and rapped on the metal barrier with his fist.

In response, the door opened.

The teen resisted the urge to whistle as he entered, taking note of the rooms comfortable appearance. A desk (was that a _hamster_ cage?!), private bathroom, couches, bed, closet, even a fish tank!

_Man, I really need to get a better apartment_, he thought to himself, somewhat jealous of the Commander's nice digs.

Ben glanced over to see Shepard lounging in a chair nearby, typing on a data-pad with a somber look on his face. "I expected Garrus to be the first one to drop by," he said half-heartedly, as if he didn't really want to speak at all.

"Me and him chatted for a while in the Battery," Ben explained, walking down a couple of stairs into the lower part of the room. "He told me about Kaidan. And Jenkins and Ashley."

The N7 operative sighed and placed his data-pad on the small table in front of him. "Losing people is hard. Losing people that trusted you with their safety and well-being is a lot worse."

"Ain't that the truth," the teen said as he sat down on the couch, across from the Commander.

"How old are you, Ben?" came a somewhat random question, though Ben rolled with it.

"Eighteen."

Shepard mouth gave a slight flicker of a smile. "Really? Because you have the eyes of a soldier triple that age."

The wielder of the Omnitrix didn't speak, allowing the undead Spectre to continue speaking. "I don't know what things are like back in your universe, but you've obviously seen and done things most people couldn't imagine."

"You have no idea."

"Then tell me a story. You already know some of my history; only fair I learn some of yours."

Ben shrugged. "Fair enough."

So the boy told Shepard about his summer vacation, gaining the original Omnitrix, and the series of misadventures that followed. While he couldn't go into detail about every encounter, he kept to the most interesting ones. Meeting Kevin for the first time, battling Hex and Charmcaster, killing the giant tick that threatened the Earth, the incident with Ghostfreak coming to life, the experience with the Fountain of Youth, and, of course, his multiple clashes with Vilgax.

"All of that in one summer?" the N7 asked, amazed.

"Yep. Remind me to tell you about the time I blew up Mount Rushmore."

Shepard's eyes shot open. "You _what_?"

"Long story."

The Commander let out a small chuckle. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you?"

"I get that a lot."

"I bet." A brief pause, then Shepard spoke again. "But you didn't really experience anything truly terrible did you?"

"No," Ben admitted. "That came during the teenage years. Alien invasion of Earth, humans being turned into mindless drones, having to travel to different planets in order to prevent wars from breaking out. Things got tougher by that point. Then it all just stopped, and I had nothing to do. That's why Paradox sent me here."

"I'm guessing Paradox is that time-traveler you mentioned?"

"Bingo."

The Commander sighed and ran his hand over his shaved head, feeling the tiny pricks of his almost non-existant hair. "All I ever wanted was to be a good soldier. Now I'm working alongside terrorists and some superhero kid from another dimension to battle genocidal machines that wipe out the galaxy every fifty-thousand years."

He shook his head. "Why can't things ever be simple?"

Ben noticed that Shepard was avoiding what was really bothering him. "Just get it off your chest, Shepard. Say what you mean."

The Commander gazed at him, sapphire eyes locking onto emerald ones. "I grew up without a family, running with gangs on Earth, as Garrus probably already told you."

The teen nodded, but did not speak.

"I never really felt like I belonged anywhere until I was assigned to the _Normandy_. Kaidan was already my friend, while Anderson and Chakwas were the closest thing to parents I ever really had. Eventually, I became the first human Spectre, and they put the ship under my command to track down Saren. Even though it was a mission to save the galaxy, I felt at home. In a way, I wish that we could have hunted that traitorous bastard for a longer time, because I actually felt like I had a family."

Ben knew that tone of voice all-too-well. Shepard had been in love.

"What was her name?" the wielder of the Omnitrix asked quietly.

"Liara T'Soni," the Commander replied, a nostalgic smile crossing his face and his eyes lighting up from the happy memories. "She was beautiful, smart, kind. But she was also naïve, unsure of how to interact with non-asari, so she had a cuteness to her. And she was a hellcat on the battlefield, flinging geth and krogan around with her biotics."

"Sounds like an amazing woman," Ben complimented honestly. "What happened to her?"

Shepard's eyes dimmed. "She was there when the _Normandy_ went down. Other than Joker, she was the last person I saw before I died."

The jacket-wearing hero listened intently, feeling like a kind of therapist in this case.

"In all honesty, my death was fairly quick. My oxygen tube was sliced, so I started losing air quickly. My lungs burned, and then I felt this blast of heat on my body, and then nothing at all. Next thing I knew, I was waking up on an operating table, with our friend Miss Lawson telling me to calm down," the Spectre explained, a slight bitterness entering his tone.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that I feel like I've lost everything. My home was the original Normandy, my crew was my family, and Liara was the love of my life. Now, all I have left is this ripoff," he gestured his hands around the room, "Joker, Chakwas, and Garrus. Ashley and Kaidan are dead, Liara has gone off to be an information broker, and the Alliance has abandoned me."

"And you're wondering why you should go on?" Ben asked, understanding Shepard's plight.

"I know it's my duty, and it's for the greater good of the galaxy, yadda yadda yadda," the Commander griped. "But it just feels like people see me as a symbol and not a human. Like losing friends and coming back from the dead is something I can just shrug off and move past in a few minutes.

"But the worst part is, I don't know what I am anymore. I'm like Robocop, a man brought back from the dead with significant upgrades, meant to bring justice in a way no one else can. Like a piece of my humanity is gone."

Ben shrugged. "Do you still love Liara?"

Shepard blinked in surprise, finding the question odd. "Of course."

"Do you still care for your crew members, willing to fight and die for them all over again?"

"Without hesitation."

Ben nodded. "You seem pretty human to me. If I broke your finger, would it hurt?"

"I guarantee you'd be hurting a lot more afterwards," Shepard joked, a small smile growing on his face.

"And why, after all you've been through, all you've lost, why would you continue to fight for people you don't even know instead of just taking this ship and becoming a freelancer?"

"Because no one else will." The answer was simple, but the meaning and conviction behind it spoke volumes.

Ben gave a victorious smile. "That's what makes you human, and it's what makes you the great hero that everyone sees when they look at you."

A thoughtful silence enveloped the Cabin, with Shepard staring off at the fish tank, as if its blue glow brought him a sense of calm and ease.

Then the Commander stood, determination set in his jaw and his eyes seeming to shine with a powerful aura of willpower. "Come on, Tennyson," he said, heading for the door. "We've got four more people to recruit, and one of them is about half a day away."

Shepard's smile was almost infectious. "And she's one of my old crew."

* * *

**DAMN! One day later, and this baby is done. Hooray for Shepard/Ben bromance, along with the foundation for Ben and Miranda's eventual romance!**

**I had planned on combining this with Tali's recruitment mission for one long-ass chapter, but I figured I'd pump this out there, to make up for the long wait between chapters one and two. Personally, I think it's a vast improvement over my previous chapter (which I'll tweak later on down the road).**

**So yeah, Shepard is a tricky character to write for, having to balance his badassery with a more human side that struggles with who he is, especially after having his entire life taken away. Hoping I didn't make him too whiny, but hey, even Spectres need to vent to somebody, right?**

**Some of you may be wondering how Shepard got over Kaidan's death so quickly. Well, he hasn't. He's just compartmentalizing those emotions until later. And Kaidan's body is still onboard the ship, but not for long. Some of you are getting extremely close to what my plan is for him. Keep guessing!**

**Also, my Ben 10 Mass Effect girls story is a go. Not sure who chapter 1 will star (thinking FemShep), but we'll find out soon!**

**Shoutout to my man Ultimate10, who, if he doesn't let Erza and Ben get together soon, is going to feel my wrath! Seriously dude, it's been almost 300,000 words, let them hook up already!**

**Again, thanks to The Incredible Muffin for being my master Yoda through writing this tale!**


	5. The Colossus Effect

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Yay, chapter 5, Tali's recruitment! Let's face it, everyone loves Tali (she's my fourth favorite squadmate; Internet points if you can guess the top three), so this chapter should be interesting. I have the next six chapters all planned out, so they'll be coming at a nice pace, unlike that horrible month-long hiatus.**

* * *

**Chapter 5: The Colossus Effect**

Ben Tennyson idly flipped through the Omnitrix, if for no other reason to reassure himself that he had access to his transformations once again. Azmuth had upgraded the new Omnitrix so that its regular recharge time was relatively short, around five to ten minutes. Overloading the battery with an extra transformation like he had done on Horizon caused it to take much longer, around four or five hours. Instead, it had been an unprecedented nine, which made him curious. Why had it taken so long for such a short transformation? Did the Omnitrix receive some kind of advanced update, or did the dark energy manipulation used by Harbinger and Shepard's team affect it in some obscure way?

He'd have to use Grey Matter or Brainstorm to analyze it later.

It had taken about ten hours to get to Haestrom from Horizon, and Ben had spent it acclimating to his new environment. His new room in the cargo area wasn't anything spectacular, but he had slept is worse places throughout his hero career, so he couldn't complain too much. The wielder of the Omnitrix had also been given a terminal, which was basically the computer of the future, equipped with a codex that would allow him deeper insight into this galaxy and how it worked.

After some research, Ben decided to make a list of things he had to do in order to improve the odds of the squad's survival, as well as to make the galaxy better as a whole. Besides upgrading the ship's armor and weapons (which was his top priority, as he had read what happened to the original Normandy), he had to do the same for his teammates' armaments. After that, he would have to work on fixing quarian immune systems, as the idea of an entire race being forced to wear suits all the time in order to survive did not appeal to him. Ben would also look into a cure for the genophage, as what the salarians did to the krogan appalled him.

Of course, that's not all that had been sitting in his new digs. On his bed, there had been a case containing a grey suit of armor, with blue lights on certain areas. According to EDI, the ship's artificial intelligence, it was called "Kestrel Armor", and it was highly advanced, if the extranet was to be believed. Immediately after the Omnitrix recharged, Ben had gone Upgrade and given the armor many advancements, including tripling the power of its shields and increasing the speed of its built-in Omni-tool by the same amount. He also customized it a bit, making it mostly black with a few green areas, including the lights. All-in-all, it looked good.

Currently, the teen hero was sitting in the Normandy's shuttle, along with half of the ground team. Shepard, Garrus, Miranda, and Grunt all sat around the small passenger area, all five of them armored up and ready for anything. The Commander had explained the reasons he had chosen this particular team: Garrus was tech and long-range support, Grunt was for muscle and close-combat, Miranda was biotics, and Ben was their secret weapon, naturally. Jack had been left behind due to her violent tendencies, Jacob had remained onboard to look into possible upgrades for the ship's armor (though Ben would more than likely solve that problem beforehand), Mordin was working on a crucial project, and no one could locate Kasumi at the time (though Garrus had joked that the Japanese thief was probably watching Jacob do sit-ups in the armory).

"So, is this going to be a simple pick-up? Because I feel like we could use one of those," Garrus quipped as he checked his sniper rifle.

"I agree with Garrus," Miranda pitched in. "Considering all of our recruitment efforts have thus far ended in violence, it would be a nice change of pace."

"That it would. If we're lucky, we'll land, convince Tali to join us, and leave," Shepard stated.

"And if we're unlucky?" Grunt asked, grinning like a madman.

"We have Ben, don't we?" the Commander joked as all eyes turned to the teen in question.

"Man has a point," Ben said, shrugging humorously.

The team then felt the shuttle give a slight shake before it stopped moving, signaling that they had arrived at their destination. As one unit, the five stood up and exited through the left door, four of them drawing precautionary weapons.

During the mission briefing, the Commander had explained that the planet's magnetosphere had been overwhelmed by solar radiation, so cosmic rays were constantly bombarding the surface of Haestrom, meaning that anyone not wearing armor with kinetic barriers would fry in a handful of minutes, hence the reason Shepard had given Ben the Kestrel Armor in the first place.

Now, the teen could understand what his N7 ally meant. The place was scorching hot. With that in mind, he began flipping through the Omnitrix once more, searching for an alien that would be able to withstand the heat.

"I have to ask, how did you get your device through the armor?" Garrus asked, noting that the watch was actually on top of the gauntlet Ben wore.

"Well, the creator of the Omnitrix wanted to make sure I could access it no matter what I wore, like spacesuits and, well, armor," the teen explained as he flipped through his myriad of alien transformations. "So it sends out some of its own personal nanotech to alter the outfit around it. Azmuth tried to explain it to me, but I couldn't follow a word he said."

"Sounds fascinating," Miranda noted, intrigued by what she was hearing. With that kind of technology, Cerberus could increase its technology influence substantially.

Ben raised an eyebrow at her. "Also, is that outfit gonna be able to protect you from the sun? Or anything at all, really?"

The Cerberus operative glanced at him, taking note of the fact that he kept his eyes on her face and not on any part of her body. In a small way, she appreciated that. She also managed to pick up on the concern in his voice. Even if they had different ideals, they were still teammates, and he was simply looking out for her safety. That second statement irked her a little, however.

The raven-haired woman tossed him a light glare, though there wasn't any true malice behind it.

"My suit possesses high-level kinetic barriers, and this outer layer is actually a flexible armor of my own design," she explained patiently. "Trust me, I'm well protected."

"Fair enough," the teen shrugged as he slapped down on the Omnitrix.

A green flash of light illuminated the area, and in the boy's place stood a being that appeared to be made out of rock and fire.

"_HEATBLAST!_"

Four pairs of eyes gazed at the new form in awe.

"I understand the need to name your alien forms," Miranda said, "but why do you shout out their names when you transform into them?"

"It strikes fear into my enemies," came Ben's simple reply.

While Garrus and Shepard shared an amused look, Miranda gave a slight roll of her eyes. Grunt, however, looked intrigued by this prospect. "Does that tactic truly work?" he asked, sounding excited, like a kid in a candy store.

Heatblast's eyes widened, but then went back to normal as he gave a mischievous grin. Oh, he was going to have fun with this. "Oh, yeah. My enemies back home run away like little girls when I yell out the names. Plus, it gives you a real rush."

"Heh heh heh," the krogan chuckled as he cocked his shotgun.

"Alright, let's move out," Shepard ordered, unable to keep the amused smirk off his face. The five warriors moved in a formation, with Shepard and Grunt in the front, Garrus in the back, and Miranda and Ben in the middle. Fortunately, their kinetic barriers kept the Pyronite's natural heat from bothering them too much.

The squad made sure to run through the areas the sun directly hit, in order to avoid the solar radiation.

It wasn't long before they came across a large gate that blocked the way forward, and there didn't appear to be another way around.

"Looks like there's a door over there," Garrus said, pointing to the right. Nodding, Shepard motioned for Heatblast to move forward while lifting his assault rifle into a ready position.

Ben summoned a fireball into his right hand while tapping the door's screen with his left. It shifted open...

"Aw, man," the transformed teen groaned when he saw the dead body of a quarian lying slumped against the wall beside a portable terminal, bits of his blood splattered along the ground. Opposite his body was a destroyed geth; quite a large one too.

"Gotta give him credit for taking a Destroyer with him," Garrus said as the team entered the small office.

"Looks like he left a message," Shepard observed as he tapped a few buttons on the terminal. Immediately, an accented voice began speaking in an urgent tone.

"_Emergency log entry: the geth are here. I've stayed to buy the others time. __Anyone who gets this, find Tali'Zorah. She and the data are all that matters. Keelah se'lai_."

The room was quiet for a few seconds before Miranda spoke up. "There's a small console over here that should lower the gate."

"Do it," Shepard ordered. "Get ready for a fight. The geth are here, and they are _angry_."

Everyone nodded as the Cerberus operative lowered the gate. As the team left the office and passed through the opening the gate had been protecting, a ship flew down from above.

"Dropship!" Grunt roared.

"Take 'em down!" the Commander yelled as the ship dropped about a dozen geth soldiers down onto the ground.

Heatblast quickly analyzed his new opponents. Synthetic, glowy flashlight for a face, guns pointed in his direction. On instinct, he blasted some flames from his feet, sending him into the air and landing in the middle of the geth forces. While most of them went after Shepard and the rest of the squad, three stayed behind to deal with Ben.

It was too easy.

The boy managed to crush one of their heads in Heatblast's oversized hands, blast another one into a wall with a fireball, and tear the other one in half after grabbing it by the arms.

Turning, Ben saw the Commander's team mopping up the rest. Grunt killed two in rapid succession with a shotgun blast each, while Miranda and Shepard used their biotics to devastating effect. The last remaining geth's head exploded from a round fired by Garrus.

"Anyone else find that a little too easy?" Heatblast asked, scratching his flaming head in confusion.

"I've fought geth before, but even that was kind of embarrassing," Garrus agreed as the squad regrouped.

"Well, they didn't get into cover or get out of the sun. Their self-preservation seems almost non-existent," Miranda pointed out.

"Stupid robots," Grunt growled, annoyed by the lack of challenge his enemies provided.

"Well, I think we'll be fine as long as they keep this up," Shepard said, ejecting his rifle's spent thermal clip.

Heatblast glanced around the area as they moved up, taking note of the stone blocks and walls that surrounded them. It was beautiful, in a "decrepit abandoned city" kind of way. Like Chernobyl, really. Radiation included.

Eventually, they reached another slope going downwards, into what appeared to be a maze of destroyed walls and empty cargo crates.

Of course, it turned out to be an ambush area, as more geth swarmed in to open fire. The team split, with Shepard, Garrus, and Grunt taking the right while Ben and Miranda took the left.

Heatblast leaned back as a rocket flew past their cover, exploding behind them.

"I'll take the guy with the rocket launcher," Ben said as he launched himself into the air once more, drawing the attention of many of the geth and allowing the squad to pick a few of them off. The transformed teen then flew toward the rocket wielder, crushing it under his solid weight.

From his slightly elevated position, Heatblast rained down fireballs on his enemies.

He then felt himself shaking from laughter as he heard a familiar voice yell "_GRUNT!_" before a geth body went flying, crashing into a wall.

By the time the squad finished off the remaining synthetics and reached his position, Heatblast was clutching his chest, laughing hysterically. Shepard was chuckling as well, and Garrus barked out a quick snicker.

Hell, even Miranda had the tiniest hint of a smile on her face.

The only one not laughing was Grunt, who looked annoyed. "I didn't feel the rush," he said, sounding like a child that had missed Santa Claus's arrival.

Ben quickly regained control of himself, though it was taking an extraordinary amount of willpower not to keep laughing. "Well, most of my alien names have more than one syllable. Maybe 'I am Grunt!' would work better?"

The krogan huffed, but seemed to take the idea into consideration.

"Liking this kid more and more," Garrus said to Shepard, quietly enough so that only the two of them could hear.

The five then quickly moved forward, ready for more attacks as they entered some kind of alley/corridor, which gave them a break from the sun, but didn't supply a decent amount of cover if they got into a firefight.

_You win some, you lose some,_ Ben thought to himself.

They quickly turned a corner, only to find four dead quarians and twice as many disabled geth.

Heatblast sighed as he looked down upon the deceases suit-wearing aliens. _If I had gone XLR8 and scouted ahead, maybe I could've saved them_, he pondered, still upset by his inability to save every last person. He possessed great power, but he was no god.

His despondent look drew Miranda's attention, who quickly made a note of it for later.

"Wait, you hear that?" Garrus asked, cocking his head in order to hear better.

"_Break-break-break. OP-1 this Squad Leader Kal'Reegar, do you copy?_" came a disembodied voice from near the quarian corpses.

"Looks like we might have some survivors after all," Shepard said, a hint of relief in his voice.

"_The geth sent a dropship toward OP-2. Tali'Zorah's secure, but we need backup._"

The Commander walked over and picked up the radio. It was an older model, but he knew how to work it just fine. "This is Commander Shepard of the _Normandy_. Can we provide assistance?"

"_Commander Shepard? The Spectre Tali worked with on her Pilgrimage? Don't know why you're here, but right now, any organic is a welcome sight._"

"Quite pragmatic for a quarian," Miranda noted.

"_Patch your radio into Channel 617 Theta, it'll make things easier._"

Heatblast slapped the Omnitrix symbol and returned to normal, where Ben proceeded to switch his Omni-tool to the correct channel, the rest of the squad doing the same.

"_We were on a stealth mission,_" the quarian, Kal'Reegar, began to explain. "_High risk. We found what we were after, but the geth found _us_. __They've got us pinned down. Can't get to our ship or transmit data through the solar radiation._"

"What's your status?" Shepard asked. "How many of you are left?"

"_We were a small squad. Two dozen marines, plus the science team. Don't know how many are left now, but we made the synthetic bastards pay for it every step of the way._"

"Why are you in geth space in the first place?" the Commander questioned. If the Admiralty Board had sent Tali into dangerous territory for some paltry reason, he and Garrus would have to crack some helmets, and the skulls contained in them.

"_You're asking the wrong person, Shepard. I just point and shoot. Something about the sun going bad faster than it should, that's about all I know. Some kind of dark energy problem, from what I heard._"

"How are you holding up? We can be there in a few minutes," Shepard explained as he glanced over at Ben. With the kid's alien transformations, they could reach Reegar in record time.

"_We're bunkered down at base camp, across the valley. I left Tali'Zorah in a secure shelter, should keep her safe. Getting Tali out is our top priority. If you can extract her, we'll keep them off you._"

"And you have confirmation that the geth haven't reached Tali yet?"

Ben looked over at Garrus, who tensed up at the N7's question. Something seemed off about that reaction...

"_Saw to it personally. Left my best men with her. Every marine on this rock has sworn to protect Tali'Zorah. Long as one of us is drawing air, she'll be safe._"

"Hm. A fine warrior, for a quarian," Grunt said, a hint of approval in his voice.

"Alright, we're heading your way. Hold your position," Shepard ordered.

"_Shit! Watch out, dropship coming in!_"

The five heard the distinct noise of a ship coming closer and began running through the corridor, exiting over the valley Reegar mentioned, where they saw a small group of quarians hiding behind a barricade, trading fire with a handful of geth. Overhead, the dropship swooped low.

The geth ship fired three plasma blasts, which destroyed the barricades and killed most of the quarians. One was still moving, though a massive stone pillar then toppled over, crushing the poor bastard under its weight.

"No!" Ben yelled in horror as he activated the Omnitrix, switching the holographic screen to an old friend and slamming down on the dial.

A massive red creature wearing what appeared to be gladiatorial armor stood before them, causing Garrus's jaw to drop, Shepard and Miranda's eyes to widen, and Grunt to give a massive smile of bloodthirsty joy.

"_FOURARMS!_" the twelve-foot-tall alien shouted as he surged forward. The geth opened fire on him, though the shots simply bounced off his hardened skin. The Tetramand growled in anger as he crushed one of the synthetics' heads under his foot before picking up a chunk of rock and flinging it at another, causing its body to break into pieces. Shepard, Garrus, Miranda, and Grunt were close behind, opening fire on the remaining robots.

Still infuriated by the quarian deaths, Fourarms approached the toppled pillar, which was now blocking the way through the base camp Reegar had mentioned. Looking up, he saw the dropship coming back in, and knew what he had to do.

Cracking both pairs of his knuckles, the transformed teen reached down and picked up the large piece of stone with minimal effort.

"Eat this!" Ben yelled as he pulled back and chucked the pillar with all of his might, which crashed into the geth ship dead-on. A massive fireball blasted forth from the dropship as it began to spin in circles before finally giving up and falling to the ground, crashing into a small building and exploding. A large shockwave of force and heat blasted outwards, though it was far enough away that it didn't bother Fourarms or his allies.

Breathing heavily as he came down from his rage, Ben turned and saw his teammates staring at him in awe from the shade of the base.

"My god," Miranda breathed, incapable of believing what she had just seen.

Grunt laughed. "_Yes_! You are a mighty ally, Tennyson!"

Garrus turned to Shepard, his mandibles flickering in thought. "You know, why are we even bothering to recruit anyone else? Seems to me that Ben is all we need to take on the Collectors."

The Spectre shrugged. "Good point. Why _do_ I keep you slackers around?"

Fourarms couldn't help but smile, though his face became serious once again as he stepped forward. "We need to keep moving. No more quarians are going to die today."

"Sounds good, but you know you're not going to fit in the base, right?' Garrus pointed out.

Ben looked over, realizing that the turian was right. No way that Fourarms was going to fit through that door. With a sigh, he slapped the dial and returned to human form once again.

"When we get back to the ship, we're gonna have to discuss some of your aliens," Shepard said as he entered the base.

"I guess that's fair," the teen admitted. Of course, Miranda would most likely want to report it to her boss, the Illusive Man. Eh, why not? He could always keep a few aliens hidden, like Gravattack or Way Big.

Never hurt to keep a few surprises in store.

The team entered a small empty room, which was more than likely for security checkpoint purposes. They moved through it and into the heart of the base, which looked like it had seen better days.

Quarians and geth both littered the room, their dead bodies in poor form. Blood and synthetic liquids sprayed the walls and floor, and even the ceiling in a few places.

Ben could see that people had indeed been living here. Cots and chairs were all around, though many now had bullet holes in them. There was a weapon locker in one of the corners nearby, and a portable terminal on a desk.

The teen took a deep breath, reminding himself that things were bound to get worse once the Reapers arrived.

The squad's attention was quickly drawn to the console near the exit, where a hologram of another quarian appeared to be attempting communication with them.

"That's Tali!" Shepard said, a smile on his face as he hurried over, Garrus right behind him. Ben and Miranda followed their lead, while Grunt walked over to a nearby geth corpse and forcibly removed the rifle it had been holding when it died.

"_Tali'Zorah to base camp. Come in base camp. Is anyone there?_"

The Commander typed a few keys on the console to establish a connection.

"Tali, it's Shepard."

"_Shepard?!_" the young woman exclaimed, excitement and confusion in her voice. "_I'm not complaining, but you show up at the strangest times! What are you doing in the middle of geth space?"_

"I was in the neighborhood, thought I'd drop by and give you a hand," he joked. "Plus, someone really wanted to see you."

Garrus stepped forward. "Long time no see, Tali."

"_Garrus!_" the young quarian's joy was almost palpable. "_It's good to see you again._"

"Wish the circumstances were better, but this reminds me of old times," the turian quipped.

"_Indeed it does. But what about my team? Did any of them make it?_"

Shepard shook his head, well-aware that she could see it. "I'm sorry, Tali. Everyone we've come across was already killed in action."

"But one of our new team members made the geth pay for it," Garrus added, glancing over at Ben, who was out of range of Tali's vision.

"_Well, that's some small comfort at least_," she said, sounding exhausted, both physically and emotionally. "_I can hear Reegar fighting outside. I think he's by himself._"

"The door to him is locked. Any way to open it?"

"_I can open it from my end, but it will take a few minutes_."

Shepard frowned. "Reegar doesn't have that much time. Ben, got anything that can help us?"

The teen smirked. "Don't I always?"

"_Who are you talking to?_" Tali asked, still unable to see the shape-shifting hero.

"My new secret weapon," Shepard said with a hint of pride and exaggerated smugness. "We're on our way, hold tight."

A green flash illuminated the area, and suddenly, Ben was gone.

"Where did he go?" Grunt asked as he approached, tossing aside the pulse rifle he had been looking at.

"Down here!" came a squeaky voice. Four pairs of eyes glanced downward, only to see what appeared to be a four-inch tall grey-skinned alien.

"What the hell?" Miranda asked, kneeling down in order to study this new creature up close.

"Is that supposed to help us open the door?" Shepard asked, looking unimpressed.

"Just watch. Grey Matter is on the job!" the tiny teenager proclaimed as he leaped impressively high for his size and landed on the console to control the door. He immediately opened a panel and dived into the wiring, muttering technical terms that passed right over the heads of most of the individuals preent, though Garrus understood bits and pieces.

"Hm, small size, but a hyper-advanced intellect," the Cerberus operative noted.

About thirty seconds later, the panel on the door turned green, and the minuscule alien jumped out of the console with a smug grin on his face. "Told ya I could do it," he said as he leaped once more, this time landing on the ground next to Miranda before reverting to human form.

"Well done," she complimented, a small smile of approval flickering across her full lips.

Ben resisted the urge to blush as the squad exited the base, entering a large underground cavern with stone pillars and blocks everywhere, giving some decent cover.

There was little time to examine the surroundings, however, as a pair of geth drones approached them before shimmering and disappearing from sight.

"Optical camouflage. Great," Garrus muttered as he drew his sniper rifle and fired a round, hitting one of the invisible drones and causing it to explode.

"We're gonna need a few extra eyes," the teen noted as he slapped the Omnitrix.

"_EYE GUY!_" shouted the new creature, a strange bat-like humanoid that had large green eyes over a good portion of its body. It wore black and green pants, and the Omnitrix logo stood out where a belt buckle would be.

"Spirits, that is weird," the turian said as he lined up another shot, keeping an eye out for any of the drones' distinctive shimmering.

Ben leaped onto a stone pillar and grasped it with his claws, allowing himself a better vantage point to survey the area. A few geth here and there, nothing dangerous. But then he saw something else...

"Got a big geth moving in!" he warned from above.

"Shit," Shepard growled. "Probably a Prime. Grunt, Miranda, keep an eye open for it! Garrus, you and me are gonna handle any more drones! Ben!" he shouted, figuring the alien's large ears would allow him to hear the Commander's orders. "That alien have any offensive capabilities?!"

In response, Eye Guy extended his left hand while clutching onto the pillar with his right. A green blast of energy fired out and hit a cloaked drone, destroying it.

"Impressive," Garrus complimented as he turned, watching a geth enter the open and blowing its head away with a single shot.

"Move to the right!" Shepard ordered, taking note of a quick, straight pathway that offered decent cover from the sun and the geth. Eye Guy leaped over, landing next to the team and following their example.

"I see the Prime!" Grunt shouted, sounding excited. He pulled out his assault rifle and began to open fire, his shots bouncing off the synthetic's kinetic barriers.

"_I AM GRUNT!_" the krogan youth roared as he charged forward, smashing a geth trooper that had been dumb enough to get in his way. Eye Guy followed in order to give cover fire.

"Still doesn't sound right, Tennyson!" Grunt yelled out as he hit behind a stone block, the Prime's machine gun rounds hitting it at high velocity but missing the large reptilian alien.

"Try something else, then!" Eye Guy retorted as he lunged onto another geth, ripped its head off, and jumped onto the wall of the chamber, with a pillar blocking him from the Prime's fire. Without moving, he fired a blast from his shoulder, destroying another drone.

Down below, Shepard, Garrus, and Miranda were fighting off geth with little effort, as they still refused to use cover or hide from the sun, which made their shields practically nonexistent.

Eventually, they managed to whittle down the opposition so all that was left was the Prime.

"Kill that bastard!" Shepard yelled as he tossed a biotic attack at the large synthetic. Eye Guy fired a few more blasts from the eyes on his hands, while Grunt charged at the Prime with a fire in his eyes.

"_I! AM! KROGAN!_" he declared as he crashed into the Prime, knocking it onto its back. Without wasting any time, the krogan grasped each side of the mech's head and began to squeeze.

In a matter of seconds, the Prime's glowing "eye" was shattered, and the rest of its head was crumpled like a paper ball.

Grunt leaned his head back and let out a victory roar. He then turned to see the squad approaching, with Eye Guy landing beside them.

"Now _that_ felt right," the violent krogan said, grinning.

"I'd say so," Ben agreed, looking down at the destroyed Prime.

"We should keep moving," Miranda suggested, Shepard nodding in agreement.

After about a minute of walking through the chamber (shooting down two more drones in the process), the team reached an office-like room, with large shutters blocking their view to what was outside.

"Might be wise to open them up and see what lies ahead," Garrus commented. The Commander stepped forward and pushed the button to retract them, only to immediately regret doing so.

Outside was a large, open area filled with a couple dozen geth, each of them firing at a lone quarian hiding behind a barricade. However, what truly caught everyone's attention was the large four-legged geth that fired a plasma blast toward them.

"Colossus!" Miranda shouted.

"Get down!" Grunt added as he tackled the group out of the way with his large bulk, saving them from the plasma blast, which knocked a large hole in the wall.

"Thanks, big guy," Eye Guy coughed as he stood up, the krogan's weight having temporarily winded him.

"Definitely like old times," Garrus noted, sounding slightly amused as the team readied their weapons and exited the room, hurrying down a ramp and finally stepping next to the quarian, who was holding a rocket launcher. The squad hunkered down behind the barricade as well, with Garrus occasionally peeking over to fire off a round.

"What the hell is that?" the quarian asked, staring over at Eye Guy.

"A friend," came Shepard's quick reply. "You Reegar?"

"That I am," the marine answered. "Still got no idea what you're doing here, Commander, but this ain't the time to be picky."

His next sentence was cut off as the Colossus fired another blast, which caused the wall nearby to shake and kick off some dust. Reegar quickly shook his head to clear it before speaking again.

"Tali's inside over there," the quarian explained, nodding his head toward a large metal door that the geth were desperately trying to get through, with limited success. "The geth killed the rest of my squad, and I'm the only thing standing between them and her. Figuratively speaking."

"And you're sure she's still alive?!" Garrus yelled over the gunfire.

"The observatory is reinforced, even the geth will need time to get through it," he said, adding a slight chuckle. "And it's hard to hack a door when someone's firing rockets at you."

"Damn straight!" Grunt agreed enthusiastically. "You've got a quad, quarian."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Reegar joked. "I've managed to pick off a few, but the Colossus is the main problem. It huddles up and lets the others repair it once it takes too much damage. I can't hot it from here, and when I got closer one of the bastards punched a hole in my suit."

"How bad is it?" Shepard asked, pulling out his Omni-tool in order to apply medi-gel if Reegar needed it.

"Combat seals clamped down to isolate contamination, and I'm _swimming_ in antibiotics. The geth might get me, but I refuse to die from an infection in the middle of a battle. That's just _insulting_."

Eye Guy couldn't help but smirk at that as he stuck a hand over the barricade in order to see. Lots of geth remained, and the Colossus seemed to be waiting for them to show their faces once more.

"We need to get to Tali," the Commander said firmly. "Tennyson, scrap that pile of junk! Everyone else, provide cover!"

A series of nods were his only response.

Eye Guy quickly analyzed the situation. If he used a heavy hitter, the entire ruin could collapse. Humongousaur, Cannonbolt, all of the big guys were out. XLR8 didn't pack enough power, Wildmutt would get shredded.

Wait, the geth were all metal!

Ben slapped the Omnitrix, and the multi-eyed alien was quickly replaced by an orange and black being with pincer-like hands and a metallic head floating between sharp shoulders.

"_LODESTAR!_"

"Seriously, where the hell did you find that thing?!" Reegar asked, shocked by what he just witnessed.

"It's a long story," Miranda replied.

Lodestar, still behind the barricade, reached out with his metallic powers and began pulling the smaller geth troopers and destroyers toward himself. It was an almost comical sight as the deadly machines suddenly began flying through the air, spinning and twisting as if they were in zero gravity.

In about a minute, the geth units were all floating in a cluster near each other in front of Lodestar, who proceeded to crush them all together with his powers. Before long, a massive sphere of broken geth was formed in mid-air.

"Keelah," Reegar muttered at the same time Garrus said "Spirits."

Lodestar flicked his wrist, allowing the corpse-ball to fall and roll down the slope.

"Let's see if the big guy can resist my _attractive_ personality," the transformed teen quipped as he stepped out in the open, where the Colossus could open fire on him.

As the massive geth tank began to charge up its plasma blast, Lodestar reached out with both pincers and used every ounce of his strength to pull the Colossus forward, causing it to flip over and land on its back, little legs kicking in the air helplessly.

The Biosovortian then lifted a few metal boxes that were quite heavy and hovered them over the flipped Colossus.

"What a crushing defeat," he said as he released the crates, which thundered down on the geth tank and smashed it into pieces, two of the legs snapping off and the chest caving in completely.

In about four minutes, Ben Tennyson had wiped out a geth platoon, including a Colossus.

"You know, I was a little offended earlier when you called us slackers," Garrus said to Shepard. "Now I'm starting to agree with you."

"Seriously, Shepard, do you have any more of him?" Reegar asked eagerly.

"Sorry, I'm one of a kind," Lodestar said as he tapped the Omnitrix and reverted back to human form.

"I'm starting to see that," the quarian responded as he stared at the teenager, as if Ben had grown two heads (which really wouldn't be that much of a stretch after what had just happened).

"Let's go get Tali," Garrus said, standing up.

The six of them followed his example and ran across the field, making sure to avoid the sunlight as much as possible. Reaching the heavy door, Shepard politely rapped on the door with his knuckles. "Tali, it's all clear out here!"

A few seconds passed before the door opened and the quarian female stepped out, her body language indicating that she was thoroughly pleased. "Shepard, Garrus, you made it! And you saved Reegar!"

"What makes you think I needed saving, ma'am?" the male quarian joked. "I had 'em on the ropes."

Tali then took note of the massive geth sphere and the crushed Colossus. "Keelah, Shepard, did you do all this?"

Grunt barked out a laugh. "Ha! Shepard is a deadly combatant, but Tennyson is the one who killed those damn robots."

Ben felt awkward as Tali looked over at him in awe and surprise. Her eyes seemed to glow from behind the visor, making her gaze extra piercing. "Really?"

"The boy is more than he appears, ma'am," Reegar explained. "I've never seen anything like it."

"Quick introductions," Shepard began. "Tali, this is Ben Tennyson and Grunt. You already know Garrus and Miranda."

Ben watched as Tali threw a dirty look toward the Cerberus operative, though she greeted him and Grunt kindly enough. The teen could see why Shepard and Garrus liked her so much; she gave off a very happy, friendly aura.

"Keelah, I wish I had joined you back on Freedom's Progress," the young quarian said, looking out over the battlefield. "But I couldn't let anyone take my place on a mission this important."

"I hope it was worth it," the Commander said quietly, looking back in the direction his team had come from, where so many quarians where now lying, dead and unburied.

"So do I," came her just-as-quiet response.

"Well, your mission is complete," Garrus spoke up. "Care to join us on the new _Normandy_?"

Tali cocked her head when she heard the ship's name, but nodded nevertheless. "Yes, I will. I can give Reegar the data and go with you."

"I'll take it to the admirals and let them know," the quarian marine said, taking a data disc from Tali that contained all the necessary information and tucking it into one of his pockets. "The ship should be fine where we left it."

"So," Tali began, turning to her friends. "What about the rest of the old squad? Liara and Wrex and Kaidan?"

She knew something was wrong when Garrus and Shepard's expressions became grim.

"Maybe it's better if we got you back to the ship first," Garrus said as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

Tali felt a shiver of fear run down her spine.

* * *

**Longest chapter yet! 6,700 words!**

**And yeah, having Ben be the reason for Grunt's infamous battle cry was too good of an opportunity to ignore. Also, Grunt crushing the Prime's head with his hands? Borrowed that from "Star Trek Into Darkness".**

**I upgraded Lodestar's powers to be more like Magneto than they did in the Ben 10 series. Just makes him cooler, though he's not gonna be able to do much against the Reapers (way too much for him to lift), so don't expect that form to be a deus ex machina. **

**The idea of Miranda's armor being made of a flexible polymer was taken from the fic "The Hero Who Loved Me", by Random Equinox. In my opinion, his characterization of Miranda is damn-near perfect, and was a big inspiration for my interpretation of her. Look up his stories when you get a chance!**

**Anyway, next chapter is a little interval on the way to Illium. Should be fun, if I do say so myself.**

**Big thanks to the Incredible Muffin and his writing wisdom!**

**Thank you all for your reviews, favorites, and follows! FF readers are the best!**


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